Pope Rejects Cardinal’s Resignation, Says Abuse Scandal ‘A Catastrophe’

Pope Rejects Cardinal’s Resignation, Says Abuse Scandal ‘A Catastrophe’
Cardinal Reinhard Marx attends a news conference at the end of the morning session of the synod on the family at the Vatican, on Oct. 21, 2015. Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters
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VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis on Thursday rejected German Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s resignation as archbishop of Munich over the Church’s sexual abuse crisis, saying he agreed that it was a worldwide “catastrophe” but that the prelate should stay on.

Marx, one of Roman Catholicism’s most influential liberal figures, offered to resign earlier this month, saying he had to share institutional responsibility for sexual abuse by clerics over past decades.