Pope rejects German archbishop's resignation after abuse scandal

Pope Francis speaks to the media on board an Alitalia aircraft enroute from Bratislava's Milan Rastislav Stefanik International airport in Bratislava, Slovakia, back to Rome, September 15, 2021. Tiziana Fabi/Pool via REUTERS

BERLIN (Reuters) - Pope Francis has rejected the resignation of the Archbishop of Hamburg who had offered to step down after a report named him among several senior officials in Germany's Catholic Church to have breached their duty in handling sexual abuse cases.

In a statement, the Vatican said it had thoroughly examined documents relating to the archbishop, Stefan Hesse, formerly head of personnel and administration at the Cologne archdiocese.