Aachen, Germany, Dec 9, 2019 / 12:00 pm
A German bishop has been relieved of all his diocesan responsibilities after being charged by prosecutors with taking more than $140,000 from an elderly woman's account.
Bishop Johannes Bündgens "left all offices" in the Diocese of Aachen following charges by state authorities in Cologne.
On Thursday, the diocese, where Bündgens has served as auxiliary bishop since his consecration in 2006, announced that prosecutors had filed charges in the district court of Kerpen on December 2.
Msgr. Andreas Frick, vicar general of the diocese, released a statement on Dec. 4 confirming that Bündgens has been accused of taking €127,000 from a 78 year-old woman alleged to be legally unable to act in her own interests. Frick also confirmed that Bündgens had been removed from all his positions in the diocese.