It is considered controversial, and Cardinal Woelki is now offering the Pope, according to his own statements, his resignation as Archbishop of Cologne.
Cologne / Munich – The controversial Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki has, in his own words, offered the Pope his resignation as Archbishop of Cologne. Pope Francis will decide on this in due course, the archdiocese said on Wednesday. At the same time, the pope ordered that Woelki resume his service in Cologne as planned. Archbishop Woelki will therefore continue to exercise his office for the time being.
Cardinal Woelke offers the Pope his resignation – and writes a letter to the faithful
“Over and over again in the past few months – praying and working – I have reflected and meditated on my actions and the situation in our archdiocese,” explained Woelki in a letter to the faithful published at the same time on Ash Wednesday. Regarding his offered resignation, the Pope is free to decide “what serves the good of the Church of Cologne the most”. In the meantime, Woelki asked the faithful to be patient and to “give him another chance”.
He asked the church members for openness and pleaded for a new beginning. “I would like to seek encounters with as many of you as possible in the coming weeks and months,” wrote Woelki. At the same time, he regretted the difficult situation in the archdiocese: “I’m sorry that this time is such a difficult time for many people in our church.”
After the abuse scandal: Woelki took a break – and now gives the background
After criticism of his communication when dealing with the abuse scandal in the largest German diocese *, Woelki took a break in September, although he had been personally relieved in a legal opinion. Woelki cited a kind of burnout as the reason for the five-month break he took from October.
“In fact, by October last year I had reached a level of physical and mental exhaustion that made it necessary to take a break. There will be quite a few of you who know that such a time is necessary because you yourself or people close to you have already experienced such a long-term overstrain.” During his time off, the main criticism was the amount of Woelki’s salary*. got loud. There was also hope that the cardinal might not return and that the situation would relax. (mbr with dpa and AFP) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
