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The apostolic visitors Hans van den Hende and Anders Arborelius in Cologne
Photo: Marius Becker / dpa
The Archdiocese of Cologne and its controversial Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki remain in the public eye: On Monday, the apostolic visitators Hans van den Hende and Anders Arborelius arrived in Cologne.
The inspectors from the Vatican are to examine the work of the archbishop as agents of Pope Francis.
The Pope's ambassadors want to get an idea of the “complex pastoral situation” in the diocese.
They should also investigate possible mistakes Woelkis and other church representatives in dealing with cases of abuse and cover-up allegations.
The Rotterdam Bishop van den Hende and the Stockholm Cardinal Arborelius have agreed to meet several times.
According to reports, they want to meet representatives of the Advisory Council on Tuesday.
It is expected that they will stay in Cologne until the middle of the month in order to then write a confidential final report for Pope Francis.
Woelki announced that he wanted to "responsibly accompany" the cooperation with the papal envoy.
"As a bishop, I am responsible for ensuring that it is different," he said in a video message for "Domradio".
The largest German diocese has been in a deep crisis of confidence for many months, which is expressed, among other things, in a wave of church resignations.
At the start of the inspection visit from Rome, top representatives of the Catholic lay people criticized Cardinal Woelki for his course in dealing with abuse.
While the Archbishop of Munich, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, offered the Pope his resignation because of personal and systemic failures in dealing with abuse, Woelki seems determined to stay.
Even more: As the »Rheinische Post« reports in advance, the cardinal wants to give confirmation to children on Wednesday as planned in the parish in Düsseldorf-Gerresheim, despite massive protests.
This is what the pastor of the Düsseldorf parish of St. Margareta, Oliver Boss, reported to the newspaper.
The cardinal's visit is controversial.
Around 140 parishioners had withdrawn their trust in Woelki in an open letter and asked him not to lead the confirmation ceremony.
One of the reasons was the discovery of sexual assaults by two priests who used to work in the community.
In both cases the cardinal is accused of having made mistakes.
Woelki worked in the community as an intern and later as a deacon.
Last week the cardinal came to the congregation for a non-public crisis discussion.
Dozens of believers symbolically showed him a "red card".
In the meantime it is said from the community that they do not want to disturb the upcoming celebration with further protests in the interests of the confirmers.
"The cardinal is barracked in his bishop's house"
The fact that Woelki remains in office at all shows "that the cardinal no longer realistically assesses the situation," said the chairman of the Cologne Catholic Committee, Gregor Stiels, of the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger".
"The cardinal is barracked in his bishop's house and no longer even notices what everyone is saying to him."
Solingen's Lord Mayor Tim Kurzbach (SPD), the chairman of the diocesan council of Catholics in the archbishopric, called the visitation, according to the report, "a decisive step", which must be followed by an early decision by the Pope.
"We can no longer afford another limbo, otherwise tens of thousands more will leave the church," he told the newspaper.
In connection with allegations of covering up cases of sexual abuse, Woelki was personally exonerated in an expert report presented in March.
However, the scandal surrounding the events in the Archdiocese of Cologne caused an uproar in the Catholic Church, and numerous believers left there.
Cologne Catholics still demand Woelki's resignation.
Walk to Cologne Cathedral
"With his resignation from office, the Archbishop of Munich has set a visible sign of new beginnings, a new awakening of the Church, not only in Germany," said Pastor Klaus Koltermann from the Archdiocese of Cologne, praising Cardinal Marx's decision.
Koltermann had clashed with Woelki in the past.
Now he wants to walk from his parish in Dormagen to Cologne next Saturday to form a human chain with like-minded people there at the cathedral and to set an example - "for a change in the church".
ala / dpa
