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After Archbishop Stefan Heße of Hamburg offered to resign from office, Vicar General Ansgar Thim is now provisional head of the archbishopric.

The archbishop is no longer keeping appointments, said a spokesman on Friday.

The 63-year-old Thim is supported in the management of the archbishopric by administrative director Alexander Becker and auxiliary bishop Horst Eberlein.

Heße had appointed Thim, who was born in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, as his vicar general in 2015.

Almost 400,000 Catholics in Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg belong to the Archdiocese of Hamburg.

On Thursday, Heße had offered Pope Francis his resignation.

It was the consequence of an expert opinion on dealing with allegations of abuse in the Archdiocese of Cologne.

The criminal lawyer Björn Gercke had accused him of breaches of duty from his time as HR manager in the Archdiocese of Cologne.

Among other things, these are violations of the duty to report and provide information.

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When asked when a decision by the Pope could be expected, the archbishopric's spokesman replied: “That lies in Rome alone.

We cannot comment on a temporal perspective. ”It is assumed that the Pope will respect the Archbishop's request.

In his declaration, Heße admitted errors on Thursday evening, but insisted: "I never took part in a cover-up." Nevertheless, he wanted to prevent damage to the office of Archbishop and the Archdiocese of Hamburg and was ready to draw the conclusions of the experts .

Catholic youth, women's community and Maria 2.0 welcome the move

The Federation of German Catholic Youth (BDKJ) claimed that a few weeks ago the archbishop should let his office rest for the time being.

"As youth associations, we pay our highest respect to his decision to offer the Pope his resignation," said Diocesan Chairman Patrick Kirsch (28) in Hamburg.

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"We appreciate Archbishop Heße and have seen him over the past few years as an affectionate, interested and open-minded Archbishop - especially when dealing with young people in church youth work." But the report presented shows that the resignation is necessary.

The Catholic Women's Community of Germany (kfd) also welcomed the move.

However, it is more than regrettable that the report published on Thursday was required, which pushed the archbishop into a corner, said the chairman of the kfd diocesan association of Hamburg, Gabriele Semrau.

"We expect from a cleric, a pastor, that he takes on a moral responsibility and also becomes aware of his guilt as a person and a Christian."

For Brigitte Jaschke from the Catholic reform initiative Maria 2.0 in Hamburg, the consequence drawn by Heße is “necessary and self-evident”.

However, it is a shame that he waited so long to do this, she said.

They reckon it will be a year or two before a new archbishop arrives.

"We are more and more concerned: at some point there will be no more sensible staff who can be trusted to hold such an office."

On Thursday, the auxiliary bishop of Cologne, Dominikus Schwaderlapp, offered the Pope his resignation.

The Auxiliary Bishop of Cologne Ansgar Puff asked for leave of absence, as the Archdiocese of Cologne announced on Friday.