Joachin Meisner Hertz
(ZENIT News / Stuttgart, 23.08.2023).- A 22-year old male was sentenced to one year and three months of prison, without parole, for abuse of titles and positions to which is added robbery, 11 computer frauds and frauds in Germany. All of the above for having posed as a Catholic priest in the German diocese of Rottenburg-Suttgart. Although the offender filed an appeal against the sentence, the District Court rejected it.
The extortioner confessed his swindles but, because he had committed 27 other commercial frauds, he couldn’t be exempted from ending up in jail. In fact, ZENIT learnt that the total penalty for improper use of titles is only a five-month prison sentence.
In July 2022, the young man simulated the celebration of four Masses and a Baptism in three parishes of Winnenden-Schwaikheim-Leutenbach. Thanks to this, he got his hands on some 5,500 euros, of which only 2,100 euros have been able to be reimbursed to the communities. He also asked an individual for a 1,000-euro “loan.”
Added to his civil felonies are the canonical, where a just “punishment” is foreseen for the usurpation of an ecclesiastical position, whereas for someone who simulates the celebration of Mass, without being a sacred minister, the penalty is interdict, namely, the impossibility to receive the Sacraments. The diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart has informed the Vatican.
