At a meeting of his most important advisory body, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki from Cologne met with severe criticism.
Numerous members of the diocesan pastoral council from various committees of the largest German diocese made it clear on Saturday that they no longer had confidence in the archbishop, according to participants.
Woelki himself pointed out that he was not elected, but called.
Only the Pope could recall him.
Finally, it was agreed to appoint an external moderator by September.
Who this should be is still open.
One participant said it would be wrong to describe the diocesan pastoral council as divided;
rather, there was a great consensus across all groups that one was at a dead point and that trust had been destroyed.
At the beginning of the meeting on Friday evening Woelki described a controversial personnel decision as a “big mistake”.
He was referring to a pastor whom he had promoted to deputy city dean of Düsseldorf in 2017, although he had admitted that years earlier he had masturbated with a 17-year-old prostitute.
The "Kölnische Rundschau" initially reported on Woelki's regrets.
To overcome the crisis in the Archdiocese, which has been smoldering for months, Woelki called for a "new beginning of the small steps".
"There are contradictions and contradicting positions, and we have to live with these tensions," said Woelki after a message from the archdiocese.
“That's why we have to approach each other, in small steps.” He himself wants to do his part.
Last week, the two Apostolic Visitators Anders Arborelius and Hans van den Hende completed their one-week visit to Cologne.
The Pope's plenipotentiaries should clarify how the archbishopric dealt with allegations of sexual abuse by priests and whether Woelki made mistakes.
You are now preparing a confidential report for Pope Francis.