COLOGNE, Germany (LifeSiteNews) — German police have raided Archdiocese of Cologne buildings to search for evidence related to perjury allegations against Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.
The Cologne public prosecutor’s office and police began searching the archdiocesan properties on Tuesday morning, June 27, the local newspaper Kölner Stadt Anzeiger reported. Around 30 police officers and four public prosecutors were involved in the operation. Policemen were seen exiting the buildings with boxes containing potential evidence and loading them into cars.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the police are searching for documents related to various charges of false affidavit and perjury against Woelki.
The German cardinal is being investigated for allegedly making false statements under oath regarding his involvement in sexual abuse cases.
READ: Media report accuses German cardinal of perjury in sexual abuse case
It has been reported that an objection by the archdiocese to the search and seizure of documents has already been made at least verbally. The regional court must now review the legality of the measures. Until then, the public prosecutor’s office and the police are not allowed to further evaluate the seized property, according to Kölner Stadt Anzeiger.
Woelki’s lawyer, Bjön Gercke, told the local newspaper that they are cooperating with the public prosecutor’s office and that he is convinced “the charges will be dropped eventually.”
According to multiple news outlets that have obtained incriminating documents, Woelki knew about allegations of sexual abuse against a priest he had promoted, contrary to statements he made under oath at a trial in March.
Minutes of a conference with the deans of the Archdiocese of Cologne in September 2022 revealed that a letter Woelki had written in 2018 about the abuse allegations against a priest was discussed in the meeting. In the letter, the German cardinal informed the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about the accusations brought forward against the priest. The minutes further revealed that Woelki reported the Vatican’s answer to the letter to the dean the next day.
These revelations indicate that Woelki knew about the allegations. However, in April, the Archdiocese of Cologne claimed that Woelki, while he had indeed commissioned the letter, could not remember whether he had read it or not.
All of the investigations regarding Woelki’s alleged false statement under oath are linked to several lawsuits brought by Woelki against the German news outlet Bild. The tabloid newspaper had claimed in multiple reports that Woelki knew about the abuse cases, but the German cardinal has won several cases against Bild. In each case, Woelki backed his position with sworn affidavits. However, the newspaper is appealing the decisions.
Woelki is known as a more conservative German bishop and an opponent of the heretical German Synodal Way.
READ: German cardinal criticizes ‘synodal path,’ exhorts German Church to ‘remain Catholic’
After public criticism regarding Woelki’s handling of the reappraisal of sexual abuse cases in his diocese had emerged, Pope Francis sent the German cardinal on a five-month retreat in 2021, and Woelki subsequently submitted his resignation. Francis has not decided whether to accept the resignation.