BERLIN — German police and prosecutors searched Catholic Church properties on Tuesday in reference to a probe of the archbishop of Cologne in western Germany over perjury allegations, authorities stated.
The searches included the vicar basic’s workplace and the premises of an IT firm that gives e-mail companies to the archdiocese headed by Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki. In addition they included Woelki’s house, German information company dpa reported.
The cardinal is underneath investigation on suspicion of getting falsely testified to court docket about when he turned conscious of stories of clergy sexual abuse within the archdiocese.
Thirty law enforcement officials and 4 prosecutors have been concerned within the raids Tuesday morning and confiscated paperwork, recordsdata and digital information, Cologne Prosecutor Ulf Willuhn informed reporters.
He stated the fabric, which might take months to guage, was associated to allegations relating to the circumstances of two clerics from the archdiocese. He declined to provide additional particulars concerning the circumstances.
“When it comes to content material, the primary challenge in every case is whether or not Cardinal Woelki had any data in any respect, and if that’s the case, at what particular time limit, of allegations of abuse leveled in opposition to two clerics,” Willuhn stated.
The Cologne archdiocese, which has extra Catholics than every other in Germany, about 1.8 million, has been in a state of disaster over these and different accusations associated to the coverup of sexual abuse for a number of years.
Woelki has denied the most recent allegations, which have fueled anger amongst Catholics towards the church far past Cologne.
The Cologne archdiocese confirmed the search of their premises by the general public prosecutor’s workplace, dpa reported.
“Expertise exhibits that it’ll take a while earlier than the result’s out there. Till then, we ask the general public to not take an open-ended investigation as a chance to pronounce preliminary convictions,” the archdiocese stated.
The archdiocese of Cologne has been shaken by ongoing allegations in opposition to the cardinal since 2020, when Woelki, citing authorized considerations, saved underneath wraps a report he commissioned on how native church officers reacted when monks have been accused of sexual abuse. That infuriated many Cologne Catholics. A second report, revealed in March 2021, discovered 75 circumstances wherein high-ranking officers uncared for their duties.
The report absolved Woelki of any neglect of his authorized responsibility with respect to abuse victims. He subsequently stated he made errors in previous circumstances involving sexual abuse allegations however insisted he had no intention of resigning.
Two papal envoys have been then dispatched to Cologne to research potential errors by senior officers in dealing with circumstances. Their report led Pope Francis to provide Woelki a “ religious timeout ” of a number of months for making main communication errors.
In March 2022, after his return from the timeout, the archbishop submitted his supply to resign however to this point Francis has not acted on it.
Tuesday’s raids are associated to the query of when Woelki knew about allegations of abuse in opposition to a former chief of the Cologne carolers, Winfried Pilz, and a second cleric from the archdiocese, dpa reported.
In a felony criticism filed by a non-public particular person, the archbishop is accused of getting made incorrect statements in a sworn deposition earlier than a Cologne regional court docket in March, dpa reported. Woelki had denied these accusations.
Following the raids, Thomas Schueller, an skilled in canonic legislation on the College of Muenster, informed the newspaper Rheinische Submit that “it’s now as much as Woelki to determine for himself whether or not to tug the ripcord.”
“Nevertheless, his conduct to this point exhibits that he’s clinging to his bishop’s chair and places his private well-being above that of the Archdiocese of Cologne,” Schueller stated.
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Related Press author Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.