Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Stefan Hesse, the Archbishop of Hamburg who was linked to abuse scandal.
Hasse offered to leave after a team of German lawyers released a major 800-page report on sexual abuse cases in the city of Cologne.
The Hamburg Diocese confirmed the Vatican’s decision on Monday.
Hesse is one of a number of clerics who have announced their departures of leaves or absence after the release of the report.
The report found that from 1975 to 2018, a total of 202 people within the Cologne Archdiocese were suspected of involvement in abuse, and that 63 per cent of those accused were clerics.
In almost half of cases, 47 per cent of the allegations pertained to sexual abuse or serious sexual abuse.
The remainder were classified as boundary violations and other sexual misconducts.
Hesse was the Head of Personnel in the Catholic archdiocese of Cologne during a span of time covered in the investigation led by criminal lawyers, Bjoern Gercke and Kerstin Stirner.
The news came on the same day that it emerged the Vatican has punished two Polish bishops for negligence in combating sex abuse against minors within their dioceses, according to twin statements from the papal nuncio.
