Extremely embarrassing for a man of the Church: The Cologne Cardinal Woelki is publicly portrayed as a liar by a diocese employee in dealing with allegations of abuse. Now the public prosecutor’s office is investigating the controversial archbishop.
The public prosecutor’s office in Cologne has initiated preliminary proceedings against Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki. The allegation of false insurance in lieu of an oath is being investigated, said senior public prosecutor Ulf Willuhn. The trigger for the investigation was an interview with the former assistant to the HR manager in the archdiocese of Cologne, Hildegard Dahm, which was published in the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” in the morning.
Dahm said in the interview that she informed Woelki early on about allegations of abuse against the former Sternsinger boss Winfried Pilz. She “couldn’t stand it any longer (…) to know things firsthand that contradict Cardinal Woelki’s public statements, especially in the case of former Sternsinger President Winfried Pilz,” said the Catholic.
There are allegations of abuse against the mushroom, which died in 2019. In a press law procedure, Woelki had assured that the case was only dealt with from the fourth week of June this year. Dahm said in the interview that she personally created an Excel list for Woelki in January 2015, with all the abuse cases that were current at the time. There were 14 names on this list, including that of Pilz. Her boss took the list with her to a conversation with Woelki. Afterwards she asked her boss what Woelki had said about the list. He replied: “That didn’t interest the cardinal at all.” She was then “petrified”.
When the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” pointed out that Woelki said that he was only dealt with the Pilz case in June 2022, Dahm replied: “That is not true. It may be that he looked at the sheet with Pilz and the other 13 name. But I looked into it. Absolutely. That’s why I was so appalled by the cardinal’s self-portrayal to the public.”
From 2013 to 2017, Dahm worked in the Vicariate General – the central administration of the diocese. After that she took over the management of a parish association. Woelki has been under pressure for years, including criticism of his handling of allegations of abuse. Some time ago, Pope Francis had asked him to submit a request for his resignation. Woelki did that. The Pope has not yet decided whether to accept it.