Cologne Catholic churchs hold penance service on sex abuse

COLOGNE, Germany — The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Cologne, Germany held a work of penance Thursday for cases of intersexual maltreatment by clergy, saying the ritual was not an absolution for the perpetrators but a “confession of guilt.”

The German Catholic Church’s handling of intersexual maltreatment reports has caused a monolithic situation successful Cologne, wherever the archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, has taken a “spiritual timeout” connected the proposal of Pope Francis.

The archdiocese’s interim administrator, Auxiliary Bishop Rolf Steinhaeuser, led Thursday’s service.

“A ample fig of crimes of sexualized unit against wards person been committed by priests and different religion employees of our diocese,” Steinhaeuser said during the work held astatine Cologne Cathedral.

The auxiliary bishop said that arsenic the existent caput of the archdiocese, helium is the “head of the perpetrator enactment of the Archdiocese of Cologne,” German quality bureau dpa reported.

“This work does not extremity with forgiveness,” Steinhaeuser said. “We cannot absolve ourselves. Nor bash we inquire forgiveness from those affected to marque ourselves consciousness better.” Rather, helium said, the work was intended arsenic a ”confession of guilt, remembrance of those affected, intercession.”

Woelki, the Cologne archbishop, has go a profoundly divisive fig successful the German church.

In September, Pope Francis decided to permission Woelki successful bureau contempt monolithic disapproval implicit his handling of the church’s intersexual maltreatment scandal. The pontiff alternatively gave the cardinal a “spiritual timeout” of respective months aft helium made “major errors” of communication. The interruption runs from mid-October to the opening of March.

A study commissioned by Woelki and issued successful March recovered 75 cases successful which 8 high-ranking officials - including his precocious predecessor - neglected their duties to either travel up on, study oregon authorisation cases of alleged maltreatment by clergy and laic religion employees, and failed to instrumentality attraction of the victims.

Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Hesse, antecedently a elder religion authoritative successful Cologne, was faulted for 11 cases of neglecting his duty. Hesse offered his resignation to Francis, who rejected it past week.

The study absolved Woelki himself of immoderate neglect of his ineligible duties with respect to maltreatment victims. He subsequently said helium made mistakes successful past cases involving intersexual maltreatment allegations but made wide helium had nary volition of resigning.

Woelki antecedently infuriated galore section Catholics by citing ineligible concerns to support nether wraps a archetypal study connected however section religion officials reacted erstwhile priests were accused of intersexual abuse. He commissioned the 2nd report, and a German instrumentality steadfast produced an 800-page investigation.

Karl Haucke, 71, who was sexually abused for respective years astatine a Catholic boarding school, was not impressed by the church’s work of penance. Haucke protested extracurricular Cologne Cathedral with respective different radical Thursday.

He said the religion had invited him to enactment successful the work but helium refused to attend.

“It is inhumane to code maine with the assertion of repentance,” Haucke told The Associated Press. “Of course, I person the prime to spell determination oregon not, but conscionable addressing the taxable tin thrust radical backmost to their memories. It’s not the church’s spot to bash that.”

Haucke suggested it would person made much consciousness to connection the victims a abstraction for a existent probe into the abuse.

“An alternate would person been for those who don’t privation to enactment according to the rituals of the church, to connection a antithetic abstraction astatine this memorial occasion,” helium said. “A neutral abstraction wherever it’s not astir repentance and prayer, but astir superior interaction, probe and coming to terms.”

Kirsten Grieshaber reported from Berlin.