BERLIN (AP) — Another 400,000 people formally left the Catholic Church in Germany last year, though the number is lower than the 2022 record, as church leaders struggle to put a long-running clergy abuse scandal behind them and the call for reform, official figures showed on Thursday.
The German Bishops’ Conference said 402,694 people left the church in 2023. That was down from 522,821 the year before, but still the second highest figure to date. At the same time, 1,559 people joined the church and another 4,127 people rejoined – in both cases, broadly similar to 2022 figures.
In Germany, people who are formally members of a church pay a so-called church tax that helps finance it, in addition to the regular taxes paid by the rest of the population. If they register their departure with the local government, they no longer have to pay this. There are some exemptions for low-income people, unemployed people, retirees, students and others.
The country’s Catholic Church had about 20.35 million members at the end of last year. In an annual summary of statistics, the bishops’ conference gave no details about the reasons for the departure.
But many have turned their backs on the church in recent years amid the fallout from the clergy and other abuse scandal. In response to that crisis, German bishops and an influential lay organization led a three-year reform process, the “Synodal Path,” that was marked by tensions between liberals and conservatives and drew open opposition from the Vatican. Last year’s final assembly called on the church to approve the blessing of same-sex unions.
A follow-up process has also been marked by tensions with the Vatican, although it did get underway this year after Rome initially insisted that German bishops scrap a vote on the statutes of a commission that would pave the way for a future decision. creating a council in which bishops and laity come together.
Christians in Germany are about evenly divided between Catholics and Protestants, and it is not just the Catholic Church that is losing members. The Protestant Church said in May that there were about 380,000 formal departures last year, about the same level as in 2022, leaving membership at 18.56 million. It has also struggled with past cases of abuse.
