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Cologne (dpa) - The Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki today for the first time allows insight into an abuse report that he has previously kept under lock and key.
The report was completed over a year ago by the Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl.
It examines how diocesan officials deal with allegations of child sexual abuse against priests.
Woelki considers the report to be flawed and not legally secure and therefore does not want to publish it.
This decision triggered a serious crisis of confidence in the largest German diocese.
The law firm rejects all allegations and has offered to publish the report on its website at your own risk.
But Woelki did not go into that.
Instead, he gives interested parties the opportunity until April 1 to view the report in the conference center of the archdiocese.
Written notes are permitted, transcripts are not.
After the decision not to publish the first report, Woelki commissioned a new one from the Cologne criminal lawyer Björn Gercke.
This opinion was published a week ago.
It accused several diocesan officials of breach of duty, such as Hamburg's Archbishop Stefan Heße, who was formerly head of personnel in Cologne.
Heße then asked the Pope to be released.
Woelki himself was not incriminated in the report.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210324-99-955873 / 3