29 January 2014

Cardinal offends with Muslim birth rate remark

Cardinal Joachim Meisner was speaking on Friday to members of a conservative Catholic group famous for their large families when he said: "I always say, one of your families to me makes up for three Muslim families."

Muslim organizations and politicians from the Social Democrat and Green parties said they were "stunned" by the comments – which came a month before Meisner, 80, was due to retire.

The Cardinal said in a statement on Wednesday he regretted that his comments had caused such "irritation". [The Local] Read more