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On 31 August 2022, “Christ & Welt” https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/ “Die Zeit” and Deutschlandfunk published the results of a joint research. On the one hand, this raises the suspicion that the eminent Catholic pastor Winfried Pilz has abused more young people than previously thought and, on the other hand, that the archdiocese of Cologne has apparently received information on other victims of abuse in the case. Pilz before previously known, but this was not followed sufficiently. Pilz, who passed away in 2019, was rector of Haus Altenberg, a large youth facility in the archdiocese of Cologne for 17 years, and then president of the children’s charity “Die Sternsinger”.
In addition, research by DLF and “Christ & Welt” provided evidence of doubts about the content of an affidavit that Cologne Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki filed in early August 2022. Following the complaint, the police received several criminal charges, including three priests. The archdiocese of Cologne also reacted and rejected the suspicion of perjury under oath. Cardinal Woelki himself did this in several interviews.
“Christ & Welt” and Deutschlandfunk continued to research and asked further questions about the archdiocese’s statements.
Criminal charges against Cardinal Woelki
The Cologne public prosecutor’s office has initiated a preliminary proceeding against Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki for “false affidavit”, several media reported on 10 September. The trigger was investigative research by Deutschlandfunk and “Christ & Welt” on previously unknown allegations of abuse against Cologne pastor Winfried Pilz, former rector of the “Haus Altenberg” youth facility and president of the children’s charity “Die Sternsinger. “.
After the report was published, three priests filed a criminal complaint against Woelki. As proof of the “investigation” a “confirmation letter” from the prosecutor’s office, which the complainants had published shortly before, was cited.
The prosecutor examines whether there is a prime suspect
But that’s not the case – or maybe not yet. As a spokesman for the prosecutor confirms, what the complainants thought was information about the opening of an investigation is only a formal confirmation of the complaint. After several complaints against Woelki, the prosecutor’s office initially only checked whether there was an initial suspicion, no more and no less. Public sources are used for this purpose, the spokesperson said.
Put simply, this means that the investigation into Woelki has not yet started, no one has yet been questioned, but the Cologne prosecutor’s office is currently reading newspapers and other publications that contain something about the Pilz case.
An affidavit and a letter
What it is: In an affidavit, Woelki stated in early August that the mushroom case was only dealt with in the fourth week of June. However, a letter which is available to Deutschlandfunk and “Christ & Welt” and which both media reported at the end of August shows: Already on May 6, the director of Woelki’s office had invited “Matteo Schuster”, an alleged person affected in the Pilz case, at an interview; there should also be an employee from the Woelki intervention center. The letter bears the Archbishop’s headed paper and coat of arms. The text literally reads: “The Cardinal asked me to ask you if he could come to the Archbishopric for an interview on Monday 27 June 2022 at 9:20 am. Mr. … from the intervention center will be present on this date “.
After the research was published, the archdiocese stated that the invitation letter had been sent from his office without Woelkis having been consulted. After the publication of the Gercke report, the cardinal invited those who wanted a personal interview with him in the context of abuse cases to interviews, the press office explained. If a request for a meeting is expressed to the authorities in charge, Cardinal Woelki instructs his office to “autonomously assign a task and autonomously coordinate the invitation and coordinate the appointment”. Cardinal Woelki himself will therefore only deal with whoever is the interlocutor immediately before the appointment and only then will he be provided with a preparation for the appointment.
This information suggests that written invitations of this type are common in the archbishop’s daily work. As reported by the archdiocese at the request of Deutschlandfunk and “Christ & Welt”, Matteo Schuster was the only person affected in May 2022 to have been invited in writing to a meeting with the cardinal.
The person concerned raised new allegations of abuse as early as 2021
Something else is striking: in March 2021, the Cologne law firm Gercke-Wollschläger presented a commissioned report on all cases of abuse in the archdiocese. The lawyers had also spoken with Woelki about his handling of suspected abuses. The cardinal will, we read in the chapter “Information from Archbishop Dr. Rainer Maria Woelki” on page 272, “informed of the receipt of reports of suspicious activities”. And again: “Usually he then receives from the head of the intervention center a draft to be signed, with which he instructs them to carry out the canonical investigation”.
Already in 2021 Matteo Schuster reported the abuses against Pilz to the intervention agency of the archdiocese. According to a statement by the archbishop’s press office on June 29, new charges were made against Pilz that year. The result was the search for “high complexity”. However, according to the press office, Woelki was not informed of the report on Schuster’s suspicious activity at the time.
Why not? “The reason was – the press office of the archdiocese explains on request – that Mr. S. was neither a minor nor an adult at the time of the crime in the ward. The intervention rules were therefore not applied when Mr. S. ” .
It is unclear how exactly the need for protection was verified. The fact is: at the alleged time of the crime, Schuster was living in the Haus Altenberg in the Bergisches Land. As Schuster explained in an interview with DLF, Pilz took care of “adolescents, especially young people who had not really lived their lives”. He himself had a broken biography behind him, Pilz valued him as an icon painter and helped him get commissions. This is what Schuster made a living from. He was financially and emotionally dependent on Pilz.
Many of those responsible were involved in the Pilz case
Many of the leaders of the archdiocese have dealt with the Pilz case in the past. As early as 2012, another allegedly affected person accused Pilz of abusing him. Two years later Archbishop Meisner issued a criminal decree against Pilz. Ansgar Puff, now auxiliary bishop and head of human resources 2012, questioned Pilz with the legal adviser of the time. In 2018, Mike Kolb, the current head of human resources, was involved in the case and that year the archdiocese reported the case to the prosecutor.
Also involved: Markus Hofmann, Woelki’s longtime vicar general. Woelki recently revealed this in an interview with the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”. Hofmann wrote him an email on Friday, June 24, Woelki said. In the letter, Hofmann informed him, that he would forget to mention in a jour fixe, that in the case of Pilz an appeal would soon be sent to other interested parties – the appeal was then issued on 29 June. This leaves Woelki’s office, who sends out the invitations for him. He is led by an important confidant of the cardinal.
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The Cologne public prosecutor’s office must now examine to what extent these findings challenge Woelki’s affidavit. It is undeniable that Woelki had at least personal relations with Winfried Pilz before the fourth week of June. He died in Görlitz on February 23. Two days later, Cardinal Woelki assured the mourners in an obituary which he signed: “As archbishop, I am deeply grateful to the deceased beyond the grave for his service in the archdiocese of Cologne.”
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