CNA Newsroom, Jul 21, 2025 /
09:32 am
The Archdiocese of Cologne has dismissed as “obviously baseless” a canonical complaint filed against Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki by German abuse survivors to Pope Leo XIV, calling the allegations unfounded and built on “false assumptions.”
The archdiocese’s response came after the “Betroffenenbeirat” (Affected Advisory Board) of the German Bishops’ Conference submitted a formal Church law complaint to Pope Leo XIV on Friday.
The complaint claimed the cardinal violated his pastoral duties regarding sexual abuse cases, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.
“The accusations are obviously baseless and build — certainly unintentionally due to lack of better knowledge — on a series of false assumptions and claims,” the archdiocese stated in a response obtained by CNA Deutsch.
‘Retraumatizing’ for abuse survivors
The survivors’ advisory board said Woelki misled abuse victims about proper procedures and handled cases negligently. However, the archdiocese countered that recent investigations “were not conducted to clarify the handling of reports of possible sexual crimes, the reporting of perpetrators, and certainly not to work through abuse cases.”
The archdiocese also challenged the canonical complaint’s legal basis, arguing that since civil cases did not address abuse-handling procedures, “the application of the Church law norms mentioned in the letter is therefore completely out of the question.”
The statement also said that under German law, only courts — not prosecutors — can issue legally binding determinations and that no such findings had been made against Woelki.
The Betroffenenbeirat asserted it had “lost all confidence that under Cardinal Woelki’s leadership, abuse cases would be investigated without regard for the perpetrators.”
The board also described Woelki’s behavior as “retraumatizing” for abuse survivors.
The archdiocese dismissed additional allegations about negligent file handling and deception of survivors as vague accusations presented without documentation.
“These are also obviously baseless and decidedly to be rejected,” the statement concluded.
Advisory board structure and role
The complaint was submitted to Trier Bishop Stephan Ackermann, the senior bishop in Cologne’s ecclesiastical province, and addressed to Pope Leo XIV. The archdiocese noted that Woelki would have preferred the authors to engage in direct and open discussion with him.
The Betroffenenbeirat operates as an official advisory body to Germany’s bishops, established in 2019 to institutionalize survivor participation in Church abuse policies.
The 12-member board comprises individuals directly or indirectly affected by clerical sexual abuse and serves as an “expert committee” advising the German Bishops’ Conference on matters of sexual violence, according to its founding documents.
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This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Martin Bürger is acting editor-in-chief of CNA Deutsch. He has been writing about Catholic topics for almost two decades and has reported from Germany, Austria, and North America. He completed his theology studies at a pontifical university with a master’s degree.
