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Georg Bätzing, Bishop of Limburg and Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference
Photo:
Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
The break of the Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki should end soon.
Then he would like to return to the head of the Archdiocese of Cologne.
The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, has now commented critically on this.
It is "a critical and worried look at Cologne, whether a real new beginning can succeed there," said Bätzing.
"It was necessary to overcome the crisis that arose there."
Situation in Cologne "critical"
The Limburg bishop spoke on Saturday in a press conference at the end of the Synodal Assembly of the Catholic Church in Frankfurt am Main.
The President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Irme Stetter-Karp, also said that she assessed the situation in Cologne as "critical".
She had also backed the demand by Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx to abolish compulsory celibacy.
Woelki is currently on a five-month hiatus, which ends on Ash Wednesday (March 2nd).
The relationship between him and the most important bodies of the Archdiocese of Cologne is considered broken.
Woelki triggered a crisis of confidence in 2020 when he decided not to publish an expert opinion from the Westpfahl Spilker Wastl law firm on how diocese officials deal with allegations of sexual abuse.
He cited legal reasons for doing so.
Bätzing previously demanded an apology from Pope Emeritus Benedict for his behavior in the Catholic Church's abuse scandal.
»He has to speak up, and he has to disregard his advisors and basically say the simple, simple sentence: 'I'm guilty, I've made mistakes, I ask the forgiveness of those affected.' There's no other way." , said Bätzing on the ARD talk show »Anne Will«.
evh/dpa