VIENNA, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- An Austrian bishop has resigned over a sex scandal at a Roman Catholic seminary he was responsible for, the BBC reported Thursday.
Bishop Kurt Krenn, 68, confirmed his resignation to the Der Standard newspaper, but said he was stepping down voluntarily and not under pressure from the Vatican.
The center of the scandal was the seminary at St. Poelten, about 50 miles west of Vienna, from which allegations of homosexual behavior and pornographic photo collections came.
The scandal came to light in July, when the Austrian news magazine Profil published pictures of clerics kissing and fondling student priests. It also reported a police investigation had uncovered as many as 40,000 images and videos on computers at the seminary.
Pope John Paul II appointed another Austrian cleric, Bishop Klaus Kueng, to investigate the affair. Kueng last month closed the seminary, saying it had "veered away from its mission."
