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Cologne (dpa) - Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki from Cologne, who is under massive pressure, and his communications director Markus Günther will go their separate ways in the future.
Günther will return "to his second home, the USA," announced the archdiocese on Tuesday.
"I go on good terms and look forward to having more time for my family and more time to write," said Günther, who has also published non-fiction books and novels.
The Archdiocese of Cologne is in a deep crisis because Woelki is holding back an abuse report commissioned by himself.
This is why the Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx recently criticized him sharply.
The non-publication was "devastating for us all," said Marx of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (Tuesday).
Woelki had commissioned the report from a Munich law firm. The office should investigate the way the archdiocese dealt with allegations of sexual abuse of children and young people by priests. After the law firm had completed the report, Woelki decided not to publish it. To this end, he cited legal concerns and referred to the advice of lawyers who were called in, who blamed the expert opinion on methodological deficiencies. The law firm rejected this. Instead, Woelki commissioned a criminal lawyer from Cologne to prepare a new report. It should be ready in March.