**The head of Germany’s Protestant church has admitted drink-driving, after she was charged with passing a red light while three times over the legal limit.**Bishop Margot Kaessmann, appointed the church’s first female leader last year, was arrested in Hanover at the weekend.
She told Bild newspaper: “I am shocked at myself that I could have made such a grave error.”
Leaders of the 25-million-strong church are discussing how the incident affects the 51-year-old’s official position.
Ms Kaessmann, who became the first bishop in Germany to divorce in 2007, allegedly drove her VW Phaeton through a red light in central Hanover on Saturday night while “completely unfit to drive”.
She told Bild: “I know how dangerous and irresponsible drink-driving is. I will of course assume the legal consequences.”
Courted controversy
Ms Kaessmann faces a fine of a month’s salary and a one-year driving ban.
The breast cancer survivor, who now leads the Evangelical Church in Germany, became her country’s youngest bishop in 1999.
This is not the first time the bishop has made the headlines.
In her sermon on New Year’s Day, she upset senior politicians by calling for the withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan.