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Cologne Archbishop Woelki
Photo: Oliver Berg / picture alliance / dpa
Shortly after Rainer Maria Woelki took office in Cologne, he is said to have wanted to get an overview of the allegations of abuse against priests.
Woelki therefore had an Excel table with the names of accused priests presented.
The Archdiocese of Cologne has now confirmed that Woelki shredded this list himself in 2015.
He destroyed the list for privacy reasons, but no information was lost.
The archdiocese emphasized that the original files are still available.
The »Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger« had reported.
The table also listed the payments made to victims of abuse.
Woelki no longer remembers which names were on the list at the time, the archdiocese said.
kha/dpa