Cardinal Woelki takes legal action against canon lawyers Schüller and "Bild".

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Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki (photo from June 31)

Photo: Oliver Berg / dpa

The canon lawyer Thomas Schüller is considered one of the harshest critics of the Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki - now Woelki is taking legal action against the theologian.

As a spokeswoman for the district court in Cologne announced, the archbishop had applied for an injunction against Schüller.

Woelki also requested an injunction in urgent proceedings against the "Bild" newspaper, it said.

The background to the proceedings are allegations of abuse against the former president of the Catholic carol singers, Winfried Pilz, who died in 2019.

Woelki's predecessor, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, had forbidden Pilz contact with minors in 2014.

After Pilz's death in 2019, the Archdiocese of Cologne nevertheless published an exuberant obituary for the clergyman who wrote the famous hymn "Laudato si".

In an affidavit obtained by the dpa news agency, Woelki explains that he was never involved with the Pilz case until June 2022.

Therefore, the accusation that he should have informed the diocese of Dresden-Meissen, where he spent the rest of his life, about the allegations against Pilz is unjustified.

Church lawyer Schüller had told the "Bild" newspaper that it was a breach of official duty that Woelki had not taught the people of Dresden earlier.

Schüller also said in the report that Pilz near Woelki was "under monument protection" because of its prominence.

Woelki doesn't want to leave it like that.

»Bild« is considering legal action

A "Bild" spokesman told dpa: "If Cardinal Woelki had given an affidavit stating that he had not been involved with the Winfried Pilz case by the end of June 2022, we do not consider that credible."

The newspaper knows that Woelki “already submitted an insufficient affidavit of dubious content in another trial at the Cologne Regional Court.

If this is repeated in further proceedings, we will consider criminal prosecution.«

Woelki had recently hit the negative headlines again after a report on a questionable PR concept paper entitled "How 'survived' the cardinal until March 2021".

According to a report, the expensive advice was intended to ensure Woelki's stay in office when he came under increasing pressure in the processing of the abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Cologne.

Several Catholic regional leaders had sharply criticized the PR strategy.

fek/dpa