Archdiocese of Cologne: Church association praises investigation by Vatican

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Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki in April: "The tablecloth is cut up"

Photo: INA FASSBENDER / AFP

Pope Francis apparently does not want to tolerate the handling of cases of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Cologne.

As the Apostolic Nunciature in Germany announced on Friday, there will be a so-called Apostolic Visitation in the largest German diocese.

The Pope appointed the bishops of Stockholm and Rotterdam, Anders Arborelius and Hans van den Hende, as plenipotentiaries.

They should examine the work of the Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki from the first week of June and examine "possible mistakes of His Eminence Cardinal Woelkis," it said from the nunciature.

In addition to Woelki, the focus is also on Hamburg's Archbishop Stefan Heße - former head of personnel in Cologne - and the two auxiliary bishops of Cologne, Dominikus Schwaderlapp and Ansgar Puff.

Arborelius and van den Hende also examine how they deal with cases of abuse.

The chairman of the diocesan council welcomes the move

The Lord Mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach (SPD), Chairman of the Diocesan Council of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Cologne, welcomed the Pope's decision.

"An apostolic visitation is very rare," he said.

The order underlined that it was also understood in Rome that in the Archdiocese of Cologne, under the leadership of Cardinal Woelki, contact between the parishes and the diocese leadership had become difficult.

He invited the visitors to the General Assembly of the Diocesan Council on June 16.

Father Hans Zollner, member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors established in 2014, made a similar statement.

The visit shows that "the gravity of the crisis in the Vatican is well recognized."

The abuse commissioner of the federal government, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, also welcomed the examination.

The step came as little surprise to him, after all, it was about assuming responsibility for breaches of duty by high-ranking clergy, which had also been determined by experts, said Rörig the "Domradio".

Criticism of Cardinal Woelki

The reform movement “We are Church” commented that it was above all Woelki's exaggerated understanding of office that “made this massive canonical intervention by Rome necessary”.

The spokesman for the initiative »Eckiger Tisch«, Matthias Katsch, spoke of a »good development« in relation to the investigation, according to »Domradio«.

He encouraged those affected to present their point of view so that the Vatican could get a "more complete picture".

Sharp criticism of Woelki also came from canon lawyer Thomas Schüller.

He already sees no more basis for Woelkis togetherness with the believers in the Archdiocese of Cologne.

"The tablecloth is cut up," said Schüller, interpreting the examination by the ambassadors as a "clear vote of no confidence" against Woelki.

The Apostolic Visitators have extensive rights.

Woelki had to give them all the documents they wanted to see, Schüller said.

The visitors themselves could also decide who they wanted to talk to, even if the cardinal didn't like it.

Although they could not make personal or other factual decisions for the Archdiocese of Cologne, they could make recommendations to the Pope in their report on what the next steps should be.

"Should the allegations in the area of ​​dealing with the cases of sexual abuse and the disastrous leadership of the archdiocese in pastoral questions be confirmed, the archbishop of Cologne will be advised to resign," assumed Schüller.

Archdiocese in crisis for months

The crisis that had been simmering in the archbishopric for months began when Woelki withheld an investigation he had commissioned into the handling of diocese officials with allegations of sexual abuse.

In return, he raised legal concerns.

A new report published in March acquitted Woelki of breaches of duty, while it incriminated Archbishop Heße of Hamburg, who then offered to resign.

The crisis in the Archdiocese of Cologne did not end there, because new allegations were made against Woelki.

Most recently, 14 of the 15 district and city deans had asked Woelki for “personal consequences”.

fek / dpa