German cardinal sees own mistakes over past abuse cases

<p>BERLIN &mdash; The Roman Catholic archbishop of the German city of Cologne said Tuesday that he made mistakes in past cases involving sexual abuse allegations against priests, although a report has cleared him of wrongdoing, but made clear he has no intention of resigning.</p>
<p>Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki was speaking after the release last week of a report he commissioned on church officials’ response to past abuse allegations. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/world-news-cologne-germany-sexual-abuse-by-clergy-sexual-abuse-e39caf3ec9562426b8e8183b88389f33">The findings</a> have prompted the current archbishop of Hamburg to offer his resignation to Pope Francis, while three Cologne church officials, including two auxiliary bishops, were suspended.</p>
<p>The report found 75 cases in which eight high-ranking officials — including Woelki’s predecessor — neglected their duties to either follow up on, report or sanction cases of alleged abuse by clergy and lay church employees, and failed to take care of the victims.</p>
<p>It absolved Woelki himself of any neglect of his legal duty with respect to abuse victims. But the cardinal said Tuesday that, in the case of one now-deceased priest accused of abusing a young boy in the late 1970s, he didn’t do “everything humanly possible.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t have to report (him) to Rome, but I could have done it and I should have done it, even if it seemed pointless and the result was expectable," he said at a news conference.</p>
<p>In another case involving a priest who abused children in the 1990s, Woelki said that he should “perhaps” have suspended the man earlier, even if that defied the Vatican. </p>
<p>However, Woelki said the priority is to learn lessons for the future. The cardinal, who has faced strong criticism over recent months for keeping a first report he commissioned on Cologne church officials’ response to abuse allegations under wraps, citing legal concerns, defended that approach and made clear he won’t resign.</p>
<p>“The problems would remain after my departure,” he said. “Such a resignation would only be a symbol that lasted at most for a short time.”</p>
<p>“My perception of responsibility means that … I will do everything so that no mistakes can happen here in the future,” Woelki added.</p>