State politicians from the CDU and SPD have expressed concerns about Cardinal Rainer Woelki’s planned return to the head of the Archdiocese of Cologne in two weeks, according to the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”.
NRW Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) told the newspaper: Woelki’s expected return on March 2 “represents a particular challenge, especially if the impression is that no lessons are being learned from this crisis”.
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The SPD faction deputy in the state parliament, Jochen Ott, made a similar statement. According to the newspaper, he warned of “permanent damage” to the Archdiocese of Cologne if Woelki “returns as if nothing had happened”.
Woelki is currently on a five-month hiatus, which ends on Ash Wednesday. The relationship between him and the most important bodies of the Archdiocese of Cologne is considered broken. Woelki triggered a crisis of confidence in 2020 when he decided not to publish an expert opinion from the Westpfahl Spilker Wastl law firm on how diocese officials deal with allegations of sexual abuse. He cited legal reasons for doing so. (dpa)
