Church
Woelki takes action against prominent critics and “Bild”.
The Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki. photo
©Oliver Berg/dpa
Cardinal Woelki claims to have known nothing about allegations of abuse against the former boss of the Sternsinger – and is now taking the matter to court.
The Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki is taking legal action against one of his toughest critics, the canon lawyer Thomas Schüller. A spokeswoman for the Cologne Regional Court said on Wednesday that he had also applied for an injunction against the “Bild” newspaper.
The background to the proceedings are allegations of abuse against the former president of the Catholic carol singers, Winfried Pilz (1940-2019). 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, which is available to the German Press 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 had spent the rest of his life, about the allegations against Pilz was unjustified. Church lawyer Schüller had told the “Bild” newspaper that it was a breach of duty that Woelki had not taught the people of Dresden earlier.
A “Bild” spokesman told the German Press Agency: “Should Cardinal Woelki have given an affidavit stating that he was not involved with the Winfried Pilz case by the end of June 2022, we do not consider that credible “We know, however, that Cardinal Woelki has already given an insufficient and dubious affidavit in another trial at the Cologne Regional Court. If this is repeated in another trial, we will consider criminal prosecution.”
Woelki’s spokesman Jürgen Kleikamp rejected this. “Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki stands behind his affidavits 100 percent,” said Kleikamp. “To claim that Cardinal Woelki submitted an insufficient and dubious affidavit in other proceedings is extremely bold. Because in Germany such a decision is made by a court and not by the defendant author of Springer-Verlag.”
Critics of Woelkis in the Cologne clergy said it was not very credible that the cardinal was not aware of the allegations against the prominent mushroom over the years. “And if a bishop hears something, doesn’t he ask?” criticized a senior cleric. “There is a perpetrator who is known to live in another diocese, and you don’t ask if everything is settled there? Prevention of sexual abuse cannot succeed if a bishop always refers to others.”
In another lawsuit by Woelkis against “Bild”, the district court in Cologne has scheduled a hearing for November 16th. The former secretary of Cardinal Meisner and the former abuse officer of the archdiocese are to be heard as witnesses. The trial is about reporting on a priest who was promoted by Woelki despite having had sex with a 16-year-old prostitute years earlier.