Walter Mixa (2008) Coat of arms of Walter Mixa

Walter Johannes Mixa (born 25 April 1941) is a German prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

who is the Bishop Emeritus of Augsburg and Ordinary Emeritus of the Bundeswehr. He resigned as

Bishop of Augsburg Diocese of Augsburg is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich.Königshütte,

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

(today Chorzów, Poland). His family

fled ''Fled'' is a 1996 American buddy action comedy film directed by Kevin Hooks. It stars Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin as two prisoners chained together who flee during an escape attempt gone bad. Plot An interrogator prepares a man to ...

to Western Germany at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Mixa passed his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1964 and studied Catholic theology in Dillingen and

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

. He was ordained in 1970 in Augsburg and thereafter he studied for his doctorate at the

University of Augsburg The University of Augsburg (german: Universität Augsburg) is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 8 Faculties. The University of Augsburg is a relatively you ...

. From 1973 to 1996 he also worked as a religion teacher in

Schrobenhausen Schrobenhausen (; Central Bavarian: ''Schrobenhausn'') is a town in the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the River Paar approx. south-west of Ingolstadt and north-east of Augsburg. The town hosts notable ...

. In 1975 Mixa became a parish priest in Schrobenhausen and bishop of

Eichstätt Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese ...

in 1996. In August 2000 Mixa was appointed Catholic Military Bishop of the Bundeswehr by Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. In July 2005 Mixa became Bishop of Augsburg. On 21 March 2012 he was appointed a Member of the

Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers was a pontifical council set up on 11 February 1985 by Pope John Paul II who reformed the Pontifical Commission for the Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers into its new fo ...

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

Beliefs

Mixa is described as being conservative and close to Pope Benedict.''German bishop accused of beating orphaned girls'', Timesonline
/ref> According to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' newspaper, Mixa is outspoken and "has railed against the German Government for making "birth machines" out of women" and has "compared

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

to the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

". He has also condemned

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

's treatment of Palestinians in the

Occupied Territories Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...

and has said of the 2010 child abuse scandal that "The sexual revolution of the 1960s is at least partly to blame for this".

Abuse allegations

In March 2010 he was accused of

physical abuse Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact. In most cases, children are the victims of physical abuse, but adults can also be victims, as in cases of domestic violence or wo ...

by five ex-pupils of a children's care home, where Mixa served as a visiting priest in the 1970s and 1980s. He has denied the allegations. Further accusers have come forward and the bishop says that he cannot remember any of them. In April 2010 Mixa stated that he cannot exclude having slapped children 20–30 years ago saying he was "sorry for causing many people grief", though, according to BBC, he didn't explain what exactly he meant. On 21 April 2010 he offered his resignation to

, who accepted it on 8 May. Benedict met with Mixa on 1 July and confirmed his acceptance of Mixa's resignation. The

Holy See Press Office The Holy See Press Office ( la, Sala Stampa Sanctae Sedis; it, Sala Stampa della Santa Sede, links=http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/) publishes the official news of the activities of the Pope and of the various departments of the ...

reported that Mixa "confirmed having committed errors and mistakes, which caused a loss of confidence and made the resignation inevitable".

Muslim immigration

In January 2019, he attended an event sponsored by city councilman Eberhard Brett, a member of Germany's far-right AfD party, to discuss the role of Muslims in German society. He supported the construction of mosques that are "compatible" (verträglich) and not "stately buildings" (Herrschaftsbauten), and said the real concern was Islamic groups that take an offensive stance and with preaching against German values. He said Muslims believe they can kill those who do not submit to them, and needed to acknowledge Germany's basic law establishing the equality of persons and respect for others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mixa, Walter 1941 births Living people Roman Catholic bishops of Augsburg People from Chorzów People from the Province of Silesia University of Fribourg alumni University of Augsburg alumni Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts