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Auxiliary Bishop Puff of Cologne on leave (file image)
© WHAT / dpa
Following an expert opinion on the treatment of sexual abuse in the German Archdiocese of Cologne, another auxiliary bishop received a leave of absence. Ansgar Puff asked Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki to do it himself, it was said Friday. The report released Thursday criticized the way several top officials had dealt with allegations of abuse against priests in recent decades. Puff was not initially named in the presentation.
However, the archbishopric noted on Friday that the report lists a former archbishopric personnel manager who had also committed a breach of duty, that is, a breach of duty to provide information. This chief of staff at that time is now Auxiliary Bishop Puff. The breach of duty mentioned in the report must now be properly assessed, the archdiocese explained.
Cardinal Woelki had already suspended Auxiliary Bishop Dominikus Schwaderlapp and the head of the Archbishop’s Court, Officer Günter Assenmacher, from their offices on Thursday for breach of duty in handling suspected cases. In the afternoon, the Archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Heße, offered Pope Francis his immediate resignation. Before being called to Hamburg, Heße had been chief of staff and vicar general in Cologne.
The experts, led by criminal lawyer Björn Gercke, found evidence of 202 suspects and around 300 victims between 1975 and 2018. Most of the victims were children. 63 percent of the accused are clergy. In almost 32 percent of the cases it was sexual abuse, in a good 15 percent it was serious sexual abuse. Gercke classifies the other cases as boundary violations and other sexual misconduct.
The Archdiocese of Cologne is one of the oldest and, with around 1.9 million Catholics, the largest diocese in the German-speaking area. Cardinal Woelki is one of three German cardinals under the age of 80 who are eligible to vote and is considered a representative of the conservative wing in the German Bishops’ Conference. Woelki himself had been exonerated by the report.
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