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Cardinal Woelki at a Vespers at the Bishops' Conference in September: Seeing eyes into the meltdown?
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Peter Back / imago images / Future Image
In view of the forthcoming return of Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki and the reform resolutions of the "Synodal Path" at the weekend, Catholics in Cologne have called for a survey of the faithful.
"Believers' participation is the order of the day in Cologne," said the chairman of the diocesan council and mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, to the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger".
If the current leaders and the German bishops are serious about the most recent reform decisions, they "must listen to the congregations on the question of whether there can be a future with Cardinal Rainer Woelki."
The head of the Archdiocese of Cologne is on leave until Ash Wednesday, which falls on March 2 this year.
The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, has recently expressed criticism of the situation in the archdiocese and called for a fresh start.
»Walking blindly into the meltdown«
The crisis in the diocese was not resolved by Woelki's time-out, Kurzbach warned.
"There are currently not the slightest signs that something will change after March 2nd," he told the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger".
The Vatican is responsible for letting the archdiocese “run blindly into the meltdown”.
The reform movement Maria 2.0 called on Woelki's representative, Rolf Steinhäuser, to disclose his status report for the Vatican and the result of a secret vote in the archbishop's advisory board on his return.
If Cardinal Woelki were to return, there was a risk of "agony," the report said.
Woelki is accused of serious communication errors in dealing with the abuse scandal in the largest German diocese, even if he was personally exonerated by the law.
Pope Francis left him in office, but the cardinal took a so-called spiritual sabbatical for four months – on full salary.
»It must be possible to monitor better whether he is doing justice to his pastoral task«
At the weekend, the synodal path of the Catholic Church in Germany decided on proposals for reform.
These aim, among other things, at a control of power and separation of powers in the church as well as the greater involvement of the faithful.
The synodal path is a discussion forum brought into being because of the abuse scandal, in which bishops and lay people want to make joint reform proposals for the Catholic Church.
The Cologne city dean Robert Kleine, who also belongs to the cathedral chapter of the archdiocese, called for the votes now taken in Frankfurt am Main to be heard, according to the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger".
“The bishop is responsible for his diocese.
It must be possible to better monitor whether he is doing justice to his pastoral task," Kleine told the newspaper.
Cardinal Woelki regularly emphasizes the vocation of all the baptized and confirmed.
»Then he should take their questions and answers about the ›signs of the times‹ more seriously and accept them.«
Apr/AFP