The Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki is again heavily criticized.
He is said to have knowingly promoted a pastor who confessed to sexual abuse years ago.
Munich - The abuse allegations around the Catholic Church and in particular the Archdiocese of Cologne simply do not tear off.
After the Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki only admitted serious omissions in March, the next dark allegations are now coming to light.
As the
picture
reports, Woelki is said to have promoted Düsseldorf priest Michael D. to deputy city dean in 2017.
The 64-year-old knew that D. had already confessed to sexual acts with a minor in 2001.
The suggestion is said to have come from the city dean Ulrich H.
This has also already confessed to abuse of a minor.
Allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church: "There will be no more cover-up"
Woelki
told
Bild
that every case would be checked. "There will be no cover-up in the Archdiocese of Cologne." Nevertheless, the case was not communicated. D., who was blackmailed by a 17-year-old "stick boy" in Cologne at the time and admitted during an interrogation to the police that he had sex with the homeless and underage prostitute, is said to have maintained new contacts with an underage prostitute in 2015. According to the report, this information was also presented to Cardinal Woelki - two years before the promotion.
The
picture
quotes from a report by the law firms "WSW": "On the police side, it was expressly suggested (...) to assign the accused priest (D.) an area of responsibility in which he does not have any sexual contact with children and adolescents entrusted to him (e.g. altar boys, etc.) ). "
Allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church: Opinion recently revealed "systemic cover-up"
A spokesman for the archdiocese stated that Cardinal Woelki would react promptly with the necessary measures in this case.
Michael D. was reported to the public prosecutor's office in early 2021 that the preliminary canonical investigation was currently interrupted.
A report by the criminal law attorneys Björn Gercke and Kerstin Stirner had only found a "systemic cover-up" among those responsible in the archdiocese due to similar revelations in March. At a press conference, Woelki admitted “serious negligence” regarding this result and that so far there has been a lack of compassion and empathy for the victims. Among other things, he offered each of the more than 300 listed victims a personal interview. “It should never have happened like this. I haven't done everything humanly possible, ”he confessed.
(ta)
