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Cologne (dpa) - The abuse report previously held back by Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki from Cologne calls for a cultural change in the Catholic Church.
The current male union system must be counteracted, among other things, by appointing women to management positions, recommends the Munich law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl, whose report was released for inspection by the Archdiocese of Cologne for the first time on Thursday under strict conditions.
The experts examined how those responsible for the diocese deal with allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests.
Your investigation has so far been kept under lock and key by Woelki, for which he cites legal concerns.
Westpfahl Spilker Wastl rejects the allegations.
Instead, Woelki commissioned a new expert opinion from Cologne criminal lawyer Björn Gercke, which was published last week.
Just like Gercke, the experts from Westpfahl Spilker Wastl also see negligence on the part of Woelki's predecessor Joachim Meisner (1933-2017) and the former Cologne HR manager Stefan Heße, now Archbishop of Hamburg, among others.
Hesse has meanwhile asked the Pope to be released.
Woelki is not incriminated in the opinion that has been withheld so far.
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The experts from Westpfahl Spilker Wastl document on the one hand the extent to which successive archbishops and vicars general did not resolutely investigate allegations against priests, did not punish the alleged sex offenders and cared little about the victims.
On the other hand, factors are also listed which, in the opinion of the experts, can promote the abuse of children in the specific system of the Catholic Church.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210325-99-967744 / 2