Vatican inspectors in Cologne: "There was a lot of adrenaline"

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The apostolic visitors Anders Arborelius (l) and Hans van den Hende in front of the Maternushaus in Cologne

Photo: Marius Becker / dpa

Karl Haucke was regularly abused as a youth in a boarding school in Bonn.

As spokesman for the Council of Affected Persons in the Archdiocese of Cologne, he wanted to ensure that church sex offenders are held accountable.

But it turned out differently.

In October 2020, the Advisory Board was pressured by lawyers "almost like an attack" to agree to the decision of the Archdiocese to withhold an initial abuse report, reports Haucke.

"We didn't even know the report!" He felt he had been instrumentalized.

"We were passed over, fooled and abused as in the past."

He had been severely re-traumatized by Cardinal Woelki's breach of trust.

The result: He resigned from the Advisory Board in protest.

Nevertheless, he has now entered into another conversation with representatives of the Catholic Church.

"There was a lot of adrenaline going on," said Haucke after his conversation with the visitors from Rome on Tuesday.

After all, one does not meet the Pope's envoys every day.

“I'm relieved that I endured it.

After all, the interlocutors come from the same organization as my perpetrator. "

Bishop Hans van den Hende and Cardinal Anders Arborelius had a different culture of dialogue than Cardinal Woelki.

»You listened actively, asked questions from time to time and asked questions for understanding.

They were turned towards us and spoke to us at eye level. "

The clergy from Rotterdam and Stockholm were well prepared and had informed themselves extensively in advance about the rather complex situation in the Archdiocese of Cologne.

Haucke reports that he and four other former advisory board members exchanged views with the visitors for around 90 minutes.

The conversation took place in German in a conference room of the Maternushaus in Cologne.

"Got really angry"

Former advisory board member Patrick Bauer also praised the visitors in an interview with the »Augsburger Allgemeine« as »incredibly empathetic and devoted to us«. He spoke "free snout" and said what was important to him. “I didn't hold back, I got really angry once. I think I said: 'It pisses me off!' "Bauer was sexually abused by a Jesuit priest in the early 1980s as a boarding school student at Bonn's Aloisius College. According to him, the conversation was recorded by a notary from the Netherlands, but he did not receive a copy.

"After all, we did not have to sign a confidentiality agreement and can express ourselves freely about the content of the discussions, which is a good sign," says his colleague Haucke. The background: The Archdiocese of Cologne caused outrage with its information policy at the beginning of the year. Selected journalists should get an insight into an initial abuse report held back by the diocese leadership - but only on condition that they sign a confidentiality agreement. The journalists refused.

The immense crisis of confidence with mass resignations in the Archdiocese of Cologne finally ignited, among other things, that Woelki had withheld this first report by the Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl - allegedly because of methodological deficiencies.

The abuse report submitted later by criminal lawyer Björn Gercke exonerates Woelki, but is criticized by those affected such as Haucke as a "courtesy report".

"Every now and then the boss has to hit the table"

At the end of their investigations, the two visitors are supposed to prepare a confidential report for Pope Francis.

The fate of Woelki, who has come under great pressure but has so far been reluctant to resign, could depend on this.

The resistance of the believers against his person and his leadership style has grown immensely, the criticism does not fall silent.

Rebel believers, mass resignations and an obviously unorthodox handling of cases of abuse may have prompted the Pope to call the leaders in the diocese to order by means of a visitation.

"The church is structured hierarchically, every now and then the boss has to hit the table," says Haucke.

How concrete the consequences will be remains to be seen.

The role of the Cologne Advisory Council for Affected Persons in the Marx case

Last week, the Archbishop of Munich, Reinhard Cardinal Marx, connected his office with his own and systemic failures in dealing with abuse with a bang and made it available.

After that, calls for resignation to Woelki were again loud.

Marx was chairman of the German Bishops' Conference from 2014 to 2020.

He is confronted with accusations that he did not adequately pursue suspected abuse cases in Trier.

In 2010 he also kept an abuse report from Munich under lock and key.

When Marx was to be awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, the most violent criticism came from the Affected Council in Cologne.

Advisory board member Peter Bringmann-Henselder signed an open letter to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in April.

In it he demanded that Cardinal Marx be denied the upcoming honor because it "questions everything we fight and work for."

Marx then renounced the Federal Cross of Merit.

Bringmann-Henselder was abused and mistreated as a child in Cologne.

He has attracted attention in the past with positions that not everyone on the advisory board shared.

He has always denied the allegations that the members of the council members had been put under pressure by the diocese leadership and stood behind the Archbishop of Cologne.

"I think it's good that Cardinal Woelki said he was staying," said Bringmann-Henselder.

"I have not yet met any of the bishops or cardinals who are working so hard on this matter as Cardinal Woelki."

Damage goes far beyond the Archdiocese of Cologne

Bringmann-Henselder finds Marx's offer of resignation superfluous: "It is of little use to those affected if bishops or cardinals who had and have responsibility now declare their resignation and thus evade responsibility," said Bringmann-Henselder.

"With that they leave those affected out in the rain again."

Bringmann-Henselder also took part in the conversation with the visitors from the Vatican.

Nobody came to judge, he emphasized afterwards.

"They find out what is and what is not."

The events in the Archdiocese of Cologne took on an international dimension with the arrival of the Pope's inspectors at the latest. According to the assessment of the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, the tense situation "led to renewed uncertainty and damage to the church." The damage goes "far beyond the Archdiocese of Cologne," said Bishop Bätzing in the "Rheinische Post".

The discussions about the abuse reports and the behavior of the church would not do justice to those affected.

"We cannot get out of the massive crisis with any cosmetic repairs of an external or legal nature. As a church in Germany we have perceived a system failure that shows that system changes are needed," said Bätzing.

The investigation ordered by Pope Francis in the Archdiocese of Cologne by so-called apostolic visitors is "a strong sign".

With material from dpa