Pope Francis has opted to publish the full text of this letter, in which he rejects Cardinal Reinhard Marx's offer to resign as Archbishop of Munich.<\/p>\n
In the letter, the Pope thanks him for his courage in taking the Church's institutional failures upon himself. Cardinal Marx himself is not accused of negligence in abuse cases, but said he hoped his resignation would help the Church get a start fresh in tackling abuse.<\/p>\n
In the letter, Pope Francis refers to the Church's recent mishandling of abuse cases as a \u201ccatastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pope says that \u201cthe entire Church is in crisis because of abuses\u201d and that \u201cit cannot move forward without addressing this crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Francis also agrees with Cardinal Marx that \u201cnot everyone wants to accept\u201d institutional responsibility for abuses, but that it is \u201cthe only way\u201d. Keeping your head in the sand, he says, leads nowhere.<\/p>\n
That's why the Pope is asking the whole Church to take ownership of the abuse situation, both individually and as a community.<\/p>\n