The Apostolic Visitators sent by Pope Francis to the Archdiocese of Cologne have completed their research on site.

As the spokeswoman for the Rotterdam bishop Hans van den Hende announced on Tuesday, the two clergymen have left.

Van den Hende, who is also the chairman of the Dutch Bishops' Conference, and the Archbishop of Stockholm, Anders Cardinal Arborelius, had spoken to several dozen people on behalf of the Pope since last Tuesday to get an impression of the pastoral situation in the Archdiocese of Cologne and the Dealing with cases of sexual violence.

Daniel Deckers

in the political editorial department responsible for “The Present”.

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    The occasion of the visit was formed by breaches of duty by current and former officials of the archbishopric when suspecting sexual abuse as well as possible errors of the current diocese leadership around Archbishop Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki in dealing with sexual abuse, especially in dealing with those affected.

    The talks started last Tuesday with conversations with victims of sexual abuse.

    In contrast to all of the following, these interviews were not subject to confidentiality.

    Who the Visitors spoke to in the days that followed was entirely up to them.

    According to the spokeswoman, it was “lay people, representatives of various bodies as well as priests and bishops” - in that order.

    The Pope alone decides

    According to the FAZ, among the people who were invited to an interview were several city and district deans who had asked Woelki a few weeks ago to “draw conclusions”. Members of the diocesan councils, the diocese leadership and the cathedral chapter, the Hamburg archbishop Stefan Heße in his capacity as former Cologne personnel manager and vicar general, but also former contact persons for victims of sexual violence as well as persons who had insights into the personal ties in the archbishopric of Cologne were also heard feature. In addition, the visitors received an abundance of comments by email and letter. Every single one, it is assured, was taken note of.

    The visitors are now required to record their findings as well as an assessment of the situation in the archbishopric in a written report for the attention of the Pope. The latter can adopt any recommendations made by his envoy, but does not have to. It is not intended that the report will ever be published. Nor does the Pope have to give account to anyone for his decisions.

    The Pope obviously also feels completely free to decide when he will decide whom. Since mid-December there has been a complaint against Cardinal Woelki for violating a norm of canon law. The responsible bishop of Münster, Felix Genn, should have received news no later than mid-January according to the relevant church rules of procedure, which had been put into effect by Pope Francis himself. To this day Münster has not received a reply from Rome.

    The cases of Archbishop Heße of Hamburg and Auxiliary Bishop of Cologne Dominikus Schwaderlapp are different. Both had passed a legal act in mid-March by offering Pope Francis their resignation in view of the breaches of duty proven to them in an expert opinion. Canon 189 Paragraph 3 of the ecclesiastical code of law of 1983 provides for cases like these that the Pope must accept this waiver “within three months”. Otherwise he loses all legal force.

    That deadline passed last weekend. Heße and Schwaderlapp are de jure as free again as they were before the Cologne abuse report was published. The offer to resign from office of Archbishop Reinhard Cardinal Marx of Munich, which Pope Francis had made before Pentecost, was rejected after only three weeks.