The Christian Century

The first woman elected to lead Germany’s 24 million Protestants in the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Bishop Margot Kässmann, resigned the post days after she was apprehended for a drunk-driving offense.

She said February 24 that she will immediately give up her posts as a bishop and as head of the EKD but will continue as a pastor.

Germany’s senior Protestant bishop, Margot Kässmann, who has criticized her nation’s military strategy in Afghanistan since giving a New Year sermon in which she said that weapons were “clearly not creating peace” there, has recently drawn support from a Catholic archbishop.

The Evangelical Church in Germany has elected Bishop Margot Kässmann, 51, to lead 24 million German Protestants—the first time a woman has become the EKD’s top executive. She was the only candidate at the October 28 synod meeting in Ulm, southern Germany.