In connection with the allegations about the handling of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Cologne, Pope Francis has ordered an investigation.
Rome – The Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki (64) has been criticized for weeks. The abuse allegations in the Archdiocese of Cologne do not stop.
Pope Francis is now sending a so-called Apostolic Visitation. The bishops of Stockholm and Rotterdam, Cardinal Anders Arborelius and Johannes van den Hende, should get an idea of the situation in the diocese in the first half of June, as the Vatican embassy in Berlin announced on Friday.
Allegations against Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki
They should also investigate possible mistakes by Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki and other church representatives in dealing with cases of abuse and cover-up allegations. The archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Heße, as well as the Cologne auxiliary bishops Dominikus Schwaderlapp and Ansgar Puff are specifically named here.
Woelki declared in Cologne that he had already “comprehensively informed Francis about the situation in our Archdiocese” in February. He welcomed the fact that the Pope now wants to get his own picture of the situation. The cardinal emphasized that he would support Cardinal Arborelius and Bishop van den Hende “with full conviction” in their work.
In connection with allegations of covering up cases of sexual abuse, Woelki was personally exonerated in an expert report presented in March. He refused to resign. After the report was published, however, several high-ranking clergymen lost their offices due to personal misconduct.
The Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Heße, who was heavily burdened in the report, and the Cologne Auxiliary Bishop Dominikus Schwaderlapp offered Pope Francis to resign. The auxiliary bishop of Cologne, Ansgar Puff, was temporarily released from work by Woelki, and church judge Günter Assenmacher was relieved of his duties. The former Vicar General Norbert Feldhoff from Cologne withdrew from the Cologne Priestly Council.
Puff is the former head of the Pastoral Care Personnel Department, who was accused of breaching the duty to provide information in one case.
In its report, the Gercke law firm assessed the handling of abuse cases by the Archdiocese of Cologne on the basis of files in the years 1975 to 2018. Heße was previously vicar general and diocesan administrator there and was responsible for the staff before he was appointed archbishop in Hamburg in March 2015 .
The experts found a total of 75 breaches of duty that were committed by eight living or deceased persons responsible during the processing. According to this, there were a total of 202 accused and 314 victims of sexual abuse. According to the expert report, more than half of the victims at the time were children under the age of 14.
Catholic Church in criticism: More and more church resignations
The scandal surrounding the events in the Archdiocese of Cologne upset the Catholic Church, and numerous believers have already resigned there. Cologne Catholics still demand the resignation of Cardinal Woelki. (afp)
Rubriklistenbild: © Evandro Inetti / imago
