Munich (dpa / lby) - Since the beginning of the year, significantly more people in Bavaria have apparently left the church than in previous years. This is suggested by a survey by the German Press Agency among the five largest cities in Bavaria. Tens of thousands turned their backs on the church.
The city of Munich alone recorded a total of 26,008 people leaving the church by December 15, 2022, according to a spokesman for the district administrative council. That's almost 4,000 more than in the entire previous year. The respective denomination was not recorded.
The city of Augsburg reported 4,251 exits by mid-December - around 1,300 more than in the whole of 2021. In Regensburg, the number of 3,445 exits was also significantly higher than in the same period of 2021 (2,214). There was a similar development in Ingolstadt: by December 15, 2,501 people had declared their withdrawal from the church - compared to 1,371 in the same period last year.
The second largest Bavarian city of Nuremberg counted 6,628 church exits by mid-December compared to 4,544 in the same period of 2021. Of these, 2,434 were Roman Catholic and 2,057 were Protestant.
This threatens to set a new negative record for the Catholic Church. In 2021, 100,872 Catholics in the Free State alone had already turned their backs on their church. Nationwide there were 359,338 - more than ever before.
