Wolfgang F. Rothe is a German priest who holds a doctorate in canon law from the Opus Dei-affiliated Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. In 2013, he obtained a doctorate in theology from the University of Munich.
After completing his doctorate in canon law — his supervisor was Georg Gänswein — Rothe became the secretary of bishop Kurt Krenn in the diocese of St. Pölten, Austria, in 2002. The following year he was appointed vice-rector of the diocesan seminary there.
Initially, Rothe (pronounced RO-tuh) was known as a conservative. But in the summer of 2004, a sex scandal broke out at the seminary when the Austrian periodical Profil published lewd photos showing priests kissing seminarians. Rothe was allegedly one of them.
The Vatican sent an investigator. To make a long story short, bishop Krenn ended up resigning, the seminary was closed, and Rothe was suspended and given some time to “come to his senses” before being allowed to re-enter priestly ministry in late 2008 but …More