The Cologne district court shows the “Bild” newspaper the red card: On Thursday it decided that the tabloid and its author Nikolaus Harbusch can no longer claim that the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, had “promoted an abusive priest”.
False statement of fact by “Bild”
The court justified the decision in favor of the cardinal, who was suing for an injunction, with the fact that in the incident between a Düsseldorf priest and a young man described by the “Bild” newspaper, there had been no sexual abuse and consequently no abuse priest could be promoted. The newspaper also wrote that the priest accused by “Bild” had confessed to the police that he had sexual acts with a minor. The court also considered this to be a false statement of fact and also banned it.
In a further procedure, the district court in Cologne initially rejected Cardinal Woelki’s lawsuit against an article in the “Bild” newspaper. In these proceedings, Cardinal Woelki defends himself against what he considers to be a false claim that, according to the photo reports, all German bishops discussed resigning because of the “Woelki scandal”. Woelki’s lawyer still sees the allegation as an inadmissible statement of fact and will appeal.
Conclusion of contract leads to financial damage
Irrespective of this, a glitch in the General Vicariate of Cologne became known. According to information from this editorial team, employees in the main administrative department of the Cologne General Vicariate made a mistake when concluding a contract with a senior employee in the summer of 2019, which could result in financial damage in the six-figure range for the archdiocese.
When reviewing the contract, it turned out that the Vicariate General had mistakenly assumed that the applicant had previously worked as a civil servant and had acquired corresponding pension entitlements. The error was noticed before the contract was signed, but was not corrected in the contract itself. As a result, the Archdiocese could now be required to pay appropriate salaries. DT/reg
Read more background information on the latest developments between Cardinal Woelki and the “Bild” newspaper in the upcoming issue of the “Tagespost”.
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