Pope to keep criticized Archbishop of Cologne in office – SME.sk

BERLIN. Pope Francis decided to keep in office a prominent German archbishop who faced criticism over the approach to the scandal concerning sexual abuse in the church.

However, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne, decided to take a break, which will last several months, his archdiocese announced on Friday.

The AP agency informs about it.

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The Vatican has announced that the pope is “counting” on the Archbishop of Cologne, the archdiocese said in a statement. However, she added, Woelki called for a “spiritual break” lasting from mid-October to early March, which was approved by the pope.

Its purpose will be to “think and create space for rebuilding trust,” the statement said.

Woelki has become a figure in the German church causing an extraordinary schism, the AP states. A report on behalf of the archbishop, issued in March this year, mentions 75 cases in which eight high-ranking church leaders, including Woelki’s predecessor, neglected their duties to monitor, report or sanction cases of alleged abuse by the clergy and lay church staff. They also failed to care for the victims, writes AP.

Archbishop Stefan Hesse of Hamburg, formerly a senior church official in Cologne, has been charged with 11 cases of negligence. Hesse offered his resignation to Pope Francis, who finally rejected her last week.

The Woelki report itself relieved it of any neglect of legal duty in relation to victims of abuse.

The archbishop subsequently stated that he had made mistakes in past cases of allegations of sexual abuse, but clarified that he did not intend to resign.

In June, two papal envoys came to Cologne to investigate the possible mistakes of high-ranking church officials in past cases of sexual abuse and to investigate the “complex pastoral situation” in the church there, the AP reminds.

During Woelki’s absence, Auxiliary Bishop Rolf Steinhäuser will lead the Archdiocese of Cologne as “apostolic administrator”.