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Cardinal Georg Bätzing
Photo: Sascha Steinbach / dpa
"Disaster".
This is how Georg Bätzing, the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, described the crisis management of the Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.
At the end of the spring meeting, Bätzing also repeated on Thursday that he had recommended Woelki to publish the abuse report kept under lock and key immediately.
At the same time, however, he takes it from this that he does not want a cover-up, but clarification.
Previously, the demand had been loud that Bätzing had to distance himself more from Woelki in order to avert even greater damage to the church.
The canon lawyer Thomas Schüller told the German Press Agency: “One can wish Bätzing more courage to criticize the Cologne cardinal.
Wrong episcopal corps spirit does not help in the long run. "
For almost a year, Woelki has been holding back an opinion on how diocese officials deal with allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests.
He cites legal concerns for this.
This behavior has triggered a crisis of confidence in the largest German diocese.
Sharp criticism also came from NRW Family Minister Joachim Stamp.
Woelki's educational work was "no longer recognizable," said the FDP politician in an interview with "Welt".
"The public impression must not arise that it is now more about limiting the damage to the official church than about the perspective of the victims." Woelki should once check whether he is still credible, because his office is linked to very high moral standards, said Stamp.
Bätzing complained about an unbalanced representation of the church in his eyes.
"In the public perception it is as if the church is not moving at all." This is demonstrably not the case: "In the shadow of Cologne are successful educational processes."
In response, Professor Schüller from Münster said it was right that a larger group of bishops was actively promoting the investigation of abuse.
"But: With the media focus on the disastrous failure to explain abuse by the Cardinal of Cologne, a number of bishops could remain under the radar of perception." This also includes the abuse commissioner of the Bishops' Conference, Stephan Ackermann.
The Enlightenment is only just beginning in his own diocese of Trier.
Criminologist Pfeiffer: "Marx is the main culprit"
The criminologist Christian Pfeiffer, in turn, criticized the Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who had described Woelki's behavior as "devastating".
Pfeiffer finds this "lying".
"If Marx attacks Woelki now, it's sitting in a glass house and throwing stones because he did the same thing." For years, Marx opposed independent investigations in his diocese because he was afraid that the former cardinal would cover up Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI., Could come out.
"Marx is the main culprit for the fact that ten years after the abuse issue was discovered, we still have no transparency," Pfeiffer told the German press agency.
"Bishops still do not need to take responsibility for protecting offenders and neglecting victims."
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