Free Republic

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian bishop Kurt Krenn has resigned, apparently at the Pope's request, after a sex and child pornography scandal in his diocese rocked the Roman Catholic church in the Alpine nation. "Yes, I have stepped down and am as of now the former bishop of St Poelten," Krenn told Austria's Der Standard newspaper in an interview published on its Web site Wednesday. Pope John Paul sent a special investigator in July to investigate how Krenn was running St Poelten diocese, west of Vienna, after child pornography and pictures of priests fondling adult male students were found at the...

Vienna, Sep. 16 (CWNews.com) - Austria's controversial bishop at the center of a scandal involving his seminary on Thursday denied reports that he would soon resign. A spokesman for Bishop Kurt Krenn of St. Poelten said media reports of Vatican pressure on Krenn to resign on health grounds were wrong. The Austrian Catholic news agency originally reported Krenn's impending resignation last week and Vatican sources confirmed to Catholic World News on Monday that while Krenn's resignation was not yet office, an announcement was expected soon. At the time, Michael Dinhobel, a spokesman for the bishop, told Austrian reporters that he...