Victims' Advisory Council of the German Bishops' Conference files complaint in Rome against Cardinal Woelki

Abuse victims file complaint against Cardinal Woelki

Leo XIV is to decide whether Cologne Cardinal Woelki acted negligently in dealing with abuse cases. The Bishops' Conference's Advisory Council for Victims filed a complaint under canon law.

"Those affected often perceive the Cologne Cardinal's behavior as hurtful," says Katharina Siepmann. She herself experienced severe abuse for three years as a child. For six months, the Catholic from Essen has therefore been involved in the Victims' Advisory Council of the German Bishops' Conference and is now its spokesperson. The council was established by the German Catholic bishops in 2022 and operates independently. The complaint filed by those affected against Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki refers to rules of canon law, not state law. "Ultimately, we hope that those responsible in Rome and the Pope will consider such behavior by the cardinal unacceptable and intervene," Siepmann told WDR.

"All trust lost"

Together with the eleven other members of the advisory board, the physician drafted the complaint, which was exclusively made available to WDR and the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper. It states that all trust has been lost that, under Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki's leadership, acts of abuse will be investigated without consideration for the perpetrators. Investigation in the Archdiocese of Cologne appears to primarily serve the cardinal's self-protection. The complaint concerns Woelki's actions in dealing with sexual abuse by priests of the archdiocese. "For us as those affected," the complaint states, "the cardinal's behavior is not only inexplicable. His apparent lack of insight into his own misconduct and serious omissions is also painful and retraumatizing."

Investigation by the Vatican? 

An official body of the German Bishops' Conference is thus turning against Woelki and, for the first time, calling on Pope Leo XIV to initiate a Vatican investigation. The canonical complaint is based on the findings of the Cologne public prosecutor's office, which are also available to WDR. Although the public prosecutor's office dropped perjury proceedings against him in May in return for a payment of €26,000, it concluded that Woelki had negligently lied and violated his duty of care. In contrast, Woelki had described the court's ruling as proof that he had not lied and was innocent. 

Woelki made false statements. 

The complaint filed by those affected states:

The public prosecutor's office found it legally established that Cardinal Woelki made 'objectively false' statements regarding his handling of suspected or proven cases of sexual abuse, both in lieu of oath and under the religious oath ('So help me God').

The fact that the cardinal is claiming to be innocent and the Cologne public prosecutor's office has to contradict this is dismaying, write those affected: "As the Advisory Council for Victims of the German Bishops' Conference, we are therefore formally filing a complaint against Cardinal Woelki and requesting the initiation of a preliminary investigation under canon law."

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Hopes rest on Pope Leo. At the end of the complaint, those affected emphasize once again that the public prosecutor's investigation has proven "that the Archbishop of Cologne failed to fulfill his official duties in an irresponsible and unlawful manner." Spokesperson Siepmann also recalls a speech given by the Pope shortly after the beginning of his term of office: "He made it clear that abuse has no place in the Church, that abuse must be investigated and addressed." Their hope: "That Pope Leo will address our concerns and soon follow up his initial statements on the issue of abuse with action." 

Complaint has a chance of success. 

Thomas Schüller, professor of canon law in Münster, has been criticizing the behavior of the Cologne cardinal for years. In his opinion, the complaint filed by those affected has a good chance of success: "Because, with reference to the public prosecutor's investigation in Cologne, they can prove that Cardinal Woelki failed to properly handle basic official duties in dealing with acts of sexual violence under canon law and therefore acted in breach of his duty." In the WDR interview, Schüller cited the crucial point as "that this complaint actually reached the desk of the new Pope, Leo XIV, who is a proven expert in canon law and is very familiar with the entire Rainer Woelki case."

Will the Pope accept a resignation request? 

In another case, says canon lawyer Schüller, a complaint filed by an advisory board for those affected has already led to a bishop's resignation: "Therefore, in this matter, I certainly trust the new Pope to finally accept the Cologne Cardinal's resignation request in accordance with the law, because he has repeatedly failed to fulfill his official duties under canon law." Woelki formally offered his resignation to then-Pope Francis in March 2022. Pope Francis had not decided on the matter. He had the resignation request in hand, Francis said in an interview in June 2022. After Francis's death, Woelki stated that he had come to terms with him and had been encouraged to continue during discussions. 

Woelki surprised by complaint 

In response to a request from WDR, the press office of the Archdiocese of Cologne dismissed the advisory board's allegations as "obviously unfounded." They were "certainly unintentionally based on a series of false assumptions and allegations due to a lack of better knowledge." The public prosecutor's investigation was not conducted to clarify the handling of reports of possible sexual offenses, the reporting of perpetrators, and certainly not to investigate acts of abuse, according to the archdiocese's statement. Therefore, the application of the canon law norms mentioned in the report is out of the question. Cardinal Woelki would have liked the authors to have sought a critical exchange with him.

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