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Cardinal Woelki at a press conference in March 2021
Photo: Andreas Rentz / POOL / EPA
The Archdiocese of Cologne does not come to rest: At a meeting of its most important advisory body, Cardinal Woelki struck heavy criticism, according to the dpa news agency.
Many members of the diocesan pastoral council had made it clear that they no longer had confidence in the archbishop, according to participants.
Woelki himself pointed out that he was not elected, but called.
Only the Pope could recall him.
Finally, it was agreed to appoint an external moderator by September.
Who this should be is still open.
The Diocesan Pastoral Council is a central advisory body in which, according to the Archdiocese, the work of the other bodies is bundled.
One participant stressed that it would be wrong to describe the diocesan pastoral council as divided;
rather, there was a great consensus across all groups that one was at a dead point and that trust had been destroyed.
Promotion of "big mistake"
At the beginning of the meeting, Woelki had described a controversial personnel decision as a "big mistake".
He was referring to a pastor whom he had promoted to deputy city dean of Düsseldorf in 2017, although he had admitted to having masturbated with a 17-year-old years earlier.
In order to overcome the crisis in the archbishopric that has been smoldering for months, Woelki called for a "new beginning of the small steps".
There are contradictions and contradicting positions, "and we have to live with these tensions," said the 64-year-old in a message from the archdiocese.
"That's why we have to approach each other, in small steps." He himself wants to do his part.
Last week, the two "Apostolic Visitators", a name given to representatives of the Pope, Anders Arborelius and Hans van den Hende, completed their one-week visit to Cologne.
The plenipotentiaries should clarify how the archdiocese dealt with allegations of sexual abuse by priests and whether Woelki made mistakes.
You are now preparing a confidential report for Pope Francis.
dpa / rai