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Cologne (AP) - Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki from Cologne did not report abuse allegations against a pastor from his area of responsibility to the Vatican in Rome in 2015.
The archbishopric confirmed this on Thursday.
The reason given was that the health of the clergyman, who had since died, prevented a further investigation into the case.
The Bishop of Münster, Felix Genn, is now having a look into whether investigations into canon law should be started against Woelki.
The "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" had first reported on the case.
According to research by the newspaper, the allegations are an act from the late 1970s.
The victim, then a boy of kindergarten age, reported the abuse to the diocese in 2010.
Woelki found out about the allegations in 2011 when he was still auxiliary bishop.
In 2014 he became Archbishop of Cologne.
After reviewing personal documents, he decided in 2015 that the allegations against Pastor Johannes O., who was born in 1929, would not be investigated further, that no preliminary canonical investigation would be initiated and that the case would not be reported to the Apostolic See in Rome.
The archbishopric confirmed the process.
It announced that the pastor was “unable to be heard”.
«A second stroke and advanced dementia made a confrontation to clear up the case impossible.
This also prevented a canonical preliminary investigation, since the potential victim expressly did not want to participate in the clarification of the facts, did not even want a confrontation with Pastor O. and other possibilities for clarification, for example witnesses, were not available ”, it says in one written statement from the Archdiocese.
Meanwhile the pastor is dead.
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Bishop Genn from Münster must first check whether this could have consequences for Woelki.
As the longest-serving bishop in the Cologne church province, Genn is legally responsible, said his spokesman.
In 2019, Pope Francis set out how to proceed when a metropolitan - in this case Woelki - is confronted with such accusations.
Under certain conditions, Genn was obliged to initiate an investigation under canon law.
How long the corresponding test will take, he could not say, said the spokesman.
The reappraisal of how the Archdiocese of Cologne dealt with allegations of sexual abuse of children and young people by priests has been making headlines for some time.
Woelki had commissioned an expert opinion from a Munich law firm.
After the law firm had completed the report, however, he decided not to publish it.
In return, he raised legal concerns.
There was massive criticism of the decision.
Instead, Woelki commissioned a Cologne criminal lawyer with a new report.
It should be ready in March.
The withheld report should then be made available to “interested individuals, especially those affected or journalists”.
After the allegations against himself in connection with Pastor O. Woelki said on Thursday: "The mandate of the independent investigation is clear: regardless of person or office, all processes in dealing with sexual violence of the past decades are cleared up."
The investigation leaves no one out - "not even me".
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Canon lawyer Bernhard Anuth told the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" that canon law had left Woelki no discretion in the priest's case.
"Woelki was obliged under canon law to carry out a canonical preliminary investigation as well as to forward the results to Rome, no matter how inconclusive or the facts are fragmentary."
The initiative “We are Church” wrote that if the allegations are confirmed, “then those responsible in the Cologne diocese leadership must be held accountable.
They should make their offices available. "
Communication from the Archdiocese to investigate how to deal with allegations of sexual abuse of children and young people