German Bishop Walter Mixa, who resigned in early May over allegations he beat children at an orphanage and misused church funds, is now facing allegations of sexual and alcohol abuse in a "secret" Vatican dossier. The dossier was seen by Pope Benedict before he accepted the resignation of Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg, said a Telegraph report in The Age.
The new allegations have surfaced following the bishop's demands that the Vatican review his case.
In the dossier, witnesses described the bishop as an alcoholic who had to drink wine and spirits throughout the day.
Others accused him of carrying out sexual attacks on young priests and "going to confession the next morning before he celebrated Mass", according to the news report.
Bishop Mixa has denied all allegations of sexual abuse. His lawyer Gerhard Decker told the press the sex abuse claim was a "misunderstanding".
The bishop resigned in early May, but has since moved back into his mansion and has demanded that the decision to accept his resignation be reversed.
Bishop Mixa accused the head of Bavaria's Catholic bishops, Archbishop Reinhard Marx, as well as the country's top archbishop, Robert Zollitsch, of rushing to the Pope with a "so-called abuse case based on ... eight handwritten sentences on a highly dubious scribbled note".
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