Pope Francis Rejects the Resignation of German Archbishop Heße of Hamburg after Investigation by Apostolic Visitation

 Pope Francis rejects the resignation of Archbishop Heße of Hamburg and asks him to continue his mission as Archbishop of Hamburg in a spirit of reconciliation and service to God and the faithful entrusted to his pastoral care.

The investigation of the events of Mons. Stefan Heße in the Archdiocese of Cologne by the Apostolic Visitators and by the Holy See came to the conclusion that "for the period in question in the organization and working method of the Archbishop Vicariate General and personal procedural errors by Mons. Heßes "were found. In doing so, however, no intention could be determined by Heße. Since Heße "humbly acknowledged his past mistakes and made his office available, the Holy Father, after considering the evaluations he received via the visitors and the dicsteries of the Roman Curia involved, decided not to accept Hesse's resignation . " 

DBK chairman Bishop Bätzing on the situation in the Archdiocese of Hamburg:

Regarding the decision of the Holy See, the resignation of the Archbishop of Hamburg, Archbishop Dr. Stefan Heße, not to be accepted,  the  chairman of the German Bishops' Conference declares, Bishop Dr. Georg Bätzing: “With today's decision by the Pope ends for the Archdiocese of Hamburg and for Archbishop Dr. Stefan Heße had a difficult time of uncertainty. That's a good thing, and I'm grateful for that. Archbishop Heße will stay in Hamburg and thus continue to be a member of the German Bishops' Conference. I wish the Archbishopric and its Archbishop a good new start with shared responsibility based on mutual trust. A lot of things that had to be left behind in the past six months can now be tackled again courageously. To everyone who is now possibly irritated, I want to ask for the confidence