Norway bishop involved in abuse

Oslo :  Norway's Catholic Church revealed yesterday that a bishop who resigned last year did so after admitting he had molested a child years earlier, when he was a priest.

Georg Mueller stepped down as bishop in the western city of Trondheim in June 2009. The church said it had not previously disclosed the reason for his resignation at the request of the victim.

Mueller's successor, Bishop Bernt Eidsvig, said in a statement that the 58-year-old German had been removed from all pastoral duties and undergone therapy after he admitted the abuse.

Mueller admitted to only one case — before he became a bishop in 1997 — and no other allegations have come to light, church officials said.

"Mueller has been divested of his authority, and he won't be allowed to work in a church again," Eidsvig told Adresseavisen, the Trondheim daily newspaper that broke the story. "He will never again be given a position in the church."

Sex abuse allegations, as well as accusations of cover-ups by bishops and Vatican officials, have swept across Europe in recent weeks. The church in Norway had previously said it had investigated two separate claims of abuse from the 1950s.

Eidsvig did not give details on when Mueller committed the abuse, but said the victim is now "well over age." It's too late for the case to be tried in civil court because the statute of limitations in Norway has passed, Eidsvig said.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the abuse occurred at "the beginning of the '90s." Mueller was a diocesan priest in Trondheim before being ordained a bishop in 1997.

Lombardi said church authorities learned about the case in January last year. Eidsvig said he was making the case public at the request of Cardinal William Levada, who oversees the office that handles cases of alleged abuse by priests.

Eidsvig said The Vatican assigned the Apostolic Nunciature in Stockholm to investigate the allegations and whether they should be reported to civil authorities.