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Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki continues to be criticized – now a decision is being made about his return
Photo: Oliver Berg / dpa
Clerics, full-time employees and lay people in the Archdiocese of Cologne voted at an internal meeting on the possible return of the controversial Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki to the Archdiocese of Cologne.
Auxiliary Bishop Rolf Steinhäuser, who heads the archdiocese during Woelki's planned break until Ash Wednesday, now wants to convey the result to Pope Francis.
The mood picture was obtained at a conference of the Cologne Diocesan Pastoral Council.
The mood of Woelki diverges
The diocesan pastoral council, as the archdiocese's most important advisory body, agreed that "business as usual" should not continue and that "clear signals for a new beginning" must be given, the archdiocese reported from the internal conference.
Accordingly, the opinions there on the planned Woelki return were strongly opposed, but without being irreconcilable.
The archdiocese quoted a community officer on a possible Woelki return as saying, "I can't imagine how that's supposed to work.
People vote with their feet, the exit numbers are frightening.« On the other hand, a dedicated layman said that Woelki had to serve as a »scapegoat« for many critics.
But reconciliation can only succeed if the cardinal's critics are willing to do so.
Woelki, who is controversial in the archdiocese, is currently on a “spiritual break” that is expected to last until the beginning of March.
Pope Francis had attested to his mistakes, but defended him against the accusation that he had covered up deficits in the processing of cases of sexual abuse by priests.
Woelki are accused of serious communication errors in the processing of the abuse scandal in the largest German diocese.
There, the number of Catholics leaving rose to a new record last year.
flg/AFP
