Did Cardinal Woelki of Cologne want to ban criticism? |
Church Zoff on the case of the masturbation priest
The powerful deans (district bosses) clashed with the controversial Cologne Cardinal Rainer Woelki (66) at a conference!
Reason: Woelki apparently wanted to ban critical statements about the crisis in the Archdiocese of Cologne.
According to BILD information, Woelki said to his district bosses on September 20: “It is disloyal that some of you have made public statements. I expect that won’t happen again.”
And further: “You live on my trust!” None of the participants had become city and district dean “without my will”. He “can no longer imagine this form of cooperation in the future”, he wants to “say it very clearly”.
Participants perceived Woelki’s warnings as a muzzle and spoke of an “undisguised threat”.
A spokesman for the archdiocese asserts that the cardinal “did not threaten anyone”. Woelki “pointed out the deans’ duty of loyalty anchored in canon law”.
Woelki is said to have argued that the district bosses were his representatives and had to submit. The spokesman: Unlike pastors, these are not “pastor proprius” (senior pastor)but deputy archbishop.
The archbishop’s power-conscious appearance contrasts with a KNA interview in early September. At the time, Woelki was modest, emphasizing: “I don’t act like an absolutist ruler.”
Woelki and his expert: defense attorney Björn Gercke (right)
How did the argument come about?
At the meeting, the deans wanted to know from their archbishop how he now assesses the allegations against Pastor Michael D. They confronted Woelki with his letter to the papal Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from November 2018, which was published in BILD. Woelki personally signed this four-page letter.
According to participants, Woelki said “that the case with the prostitute alone is a violation of the sixth commandment”. Several deans told BILD that the cardinal said at the meeting: “Otherwise there are only rumors to date.”
Woelki’s press office: “The representation is not correct.” the sixth commandment have not yet been clearly established.”
Confirmed case
In the case of D., in addition to the well-known masturbating with a 16-year-old homeless person, there is now another case – which clearly goes beyond the rumor stage.
On August 10, 2022, the intervention agency informed a former confirmed candidate of Pastor D. that the Archdiocese had “confirmed as plausible” his descriptions, despite D.’s statements.
The person concerned is still suffering from D’s behavior on a youth trip to the Lower Rhine in 1998. A payment “in recognition of the suffering by the independent commission” has not yet been determined.
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These documents document the case of Rev. Michael D. Among them is the 2018 letter from Cardinal Rainer Woelki to Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer.