The Exodus from the two major churches has taken in the past year, in addition to travel. There were significantly more people than before - even without the current scandal.

Bonn/Hannover (dpa) - more and more people in Germany from the Church - last year it was more than half a Million. In the case of the Catholics 272.771 people in the Church turned their backs on, 26 per cent more than in 2018. This was the highest number ever, confirmed a spokeswoman.

In the case of the Protestants, some 270,000 people from the Church were about 22 percent more than in the previous year. The number was an upward rounded up a high bill and is expected to be at the end just below the previous all-time high, explained a spokesman.

There are now in Germany, 22.6 million Catholics and 20.7 million Protestants. The Figures were reported on Friday by the German bishops conference (DBK) in Bonn and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) in Hannover.

The Chairman of the bishops ' conference, Georg Bätzing said, to the Numbers there is talk of "nothing nice". Sometimes bold changes that will be required, and this is precisely why the German Catholics had initiated the process of reform Synod way.

The EKD Council chair Heinrich Bedford-Strohm told the German press Agency: "The current Figures oppress us." He promised: "The Church wants to change and do this now." So crisis new digitized formats, were made during the Corona, the come and ask well. All Bedford-Strohm sees in the Corona of a Chance: "Many people now experience is that the sudden interruption of the previous life and the uncertainty of how it will go is hard to bear. The Belief is power."

In the current year, the EKD is expected because of the pandemic, there is a sharp decline in Church tax revenues, depending on economic development - ten to 25 percent. Also, the Catholic Church expects much less the Church tax revenue by Corona.

The canonist Thomas Schüller pointed out that the exit success wave, regardless of the current events: "Without visible scandals, the Catholic Church loses all binding force, and it acts so as a Catholic would have to give reasons why he remains in his Church," said Schuller of the German press Agency. In particular, women who had previously worked in parishes engaged, moved increasingly to the consequences of a lack of willingness to change.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:200626-99-574379/5