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Archbishop Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki of Cologne during Vespers in the Basilica of St. Apostles in Cologne
Photo: Christoph Hardt / imago images / Future Image
Acolytes protested at a service of the Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki in Rome.
While the archbishop preached the sermon in a basilica on Monday evening in front of almost 2,000 altar boys from his diocese, dozens of them turned and turned their backs on Woelki.
This was reported on Tuesday by the Cologne media, including the portal domradio.de, which is operated by the archdiocese's educational institution.
The acolytes, who were on a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi, had come to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls for Mass.
When Woelki then preached, according to domradio.de, 150 to 200 young people stood up and turned their backs on the archbishop in front of the altar.
The action can also be seen on video.
Woelki then interrupted his sermon and addressed the protesters, for which he received applause.
After that the Mass continued.
The cardinal has long been heavily criticized for his handling of abuse scandals in Cologne.
The cleric is awaiting a decision from Pope Francis, who must decide on his offer to resign.
Many Catholics rate the situation in the cathedral city as intolerable.
From October 2021 to March 2022, Woelki took a sabbatical at the direction of the head of the Catholic Church.
Francis has not yet commented on the archbishop's future.
After the incident in Rome, Woelki said on domradio.de that he did not like the type and timing of the protest.
The young people "certainly meant well from their perspective."
However, he criticized "that the service is used for this" and called the action "a bit difficult".
During the mass, Woelki had already told the young people that Jesus never turned his back on people.
'It has been so now.
And now we have to accept it like that,” the 66-year-old concluded.
ala/dpa
