Things remain restless in the Archdiocese of Cologne under the leadership of Cardinal Woelki. It is now confirmed that Woelki shredded a list of priests suspected of abuse. However, the data is not lost, they say.
In 2015, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne personally shredded a list of the names of priests suspected of abuse. This was confirmed by the Archdiocese of Cologne. The destruction was done for privacy reasons. The Archdiocese emphasized that no information was lost as a result, since the original files are still available.
The “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” had previously reported on the campaign. According to the Archdiocese, in 2015, shortly after taking office in Cologne, Woelki had an Excel spreadsheet with the names of the priests who had been accused of sexual abuse presented to him. It also listed payments made to victims of abuse in recognition of their suffering.
According to the Archdiocese, Woelki wanted to get a rough overview of the situation. Today he no longer remembers which names were on the list at the time. The deeds themselves had been thoroughly worked up by the specialist departments of the archdiocese and in several reports.
Last year, Pope Francis sent Woelki on a five-month sabbatical. The pope had accused him of “big mistakes”, especially in his communication in connection with the unpublished abuse report. At the beginning of March, Woelki resumed his official duties. However, he had to submit a resignation request, which the Pope has yet to decide on. Since then, criticism of Woelki and his administration has repeatedly been raised.
Most recently, in mid-August, around 50 pastors, parish officers and other officials from the Archdiocese of Cologne distanced themselves from the cardinal in a statement after it became known that Woelki had sought external advice on PR issues. A communications agency had drafted plans for his “survival” in office in 2020. Among other things, the PR experts suggested that he should try to get the Advisory Board of Victims of Sexual Abuse on his side in a dispute over an unpublished report.
(This article was first published on Saturday, August 27, 2022.)
