“Ecclesiastical proceedings continue”

adminonNovember 10, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Symbol image files © Harald Oppitz (KNA)

The public prosecutor's case against the suspended Dusseldorf city dean was dropped. He was under investigation for sexual harassment. The Archdiocese of Cologne announced that the internal church procedure continues unaffected by this.

The Dusseldorf public prosecutor's office has dropped its investigation against suspended city dean Ulrich Hennes for sexual harassment. There is "now no longer an open investigation," authority spokeswoman Britta Zur told the "Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger" (Saturday), after already confirming the closure of another case on Wednesday. In addition, at the beginning of May, a first procedure had been discontinued "for lack of evidence of the crime".

The allegations had been received after the Archdiocese of Cologne had forwarded an alleged case from 2012/2013 to the public prosecutor's office in March and made this public.

As announced from judicial circles, all allegations had since proven to be incriminating.

"Internal church process continues"

According to spokesman Christoph Heckeley, the Archdiocese of Cologne has not yet received any notification from the public prosecutor's office. "Regardless of the outcome of the criminal investigation, the following applies to us: the internal church proceedings continue," Heckeley told the newspaper.

Therefore, there is no fundamentally new situation. The archdiocese had suspended Hennes from all ecclesiastical posts in mid-March as a result of the initial proceedings and announced the opening of an ecclesiastical trial against the city dean, who had been in office since October 2015.

A man rides his bicycle through the destroyed city of Duma © Hummam Sheikh Ali

On the tenth anniversary of the Syrian conflict, aid organizations have warned of a further worsening of the humanitarian crisis. Aid agencies cannot replace a political solution to the conflict, he said.

This was emphasized by the president of Diakonie-Katastrophenhilfe Dagmar Pruin. "The EU and the German government also have a duty here."

This includes, for example, the active support of the Interception Committee, in which representatives of the government and the opposition have been negotiating since 2019. Here, it must be ensured that the interests of the Syrian population are also taken into account in a realignment of the country, said Pruin.

Since the fighting began in March 2011, aid organizations estimate that some 600.000 people killed. In addition, he said, more than 12 million people have been displaced and are now fleeing inside and outside the country, including nearly six million children.

Nearly 80 percent of the Syrian population currently lives in poverty. The humanitarian crisis in the country has recently been exacerbated by the Corona pandemic, increasing poverty and the risk of sexual violence.

Expanding humanitarian aid

Together with nine other organizations, including the aid organizations Care, Terre des Hommes and Save the Children, Diakonie called for an expansion of humanitarian aid in Syria. At the same time, they lamented the lack of efforts for a political solution to the conflict. At the next Syria conference hosted by the EU in Brussels on 29. and 30. March must send a signal that the world has not forgotten the country.

Criticism was also directed at the sanctions imposed on the country. For example, the blockade of money transfers from the U.S. and Europe to Syria makes it virtually impossible to send the necessary funds to help the population, stressed the international Catholic relief agency Aid to the Church in Need.

This financial support is central to ensuring that food, medical supplies and clothing can be purchased locally, said the executive president, Thomas Heine-Geldern. "It is our duty to help the suffering civilian population in Syria. The Christian minority in particular is in danger of disappearing."

More prere on political decision-makers is also demanded by the Alliance Development Helps. As long as no political solution is found, however, at least humanitarian aid must be unhindered, said the organization's executive director, Peter Mucke. For this, Germany and the EU would have to enforce border openings that would allow humanitarian workers access to people in need.

Pope Francis and George Pell © Vatican Media/Romano Siciliani (CBA)

He was once one of the most powerful men in the Vatican. Then-Cardinal George Pell had to stand trial on abuse allegations in his native Australia. Now other light is shed on the events.

Converted to at least 700.000 euros have flowed from the Vatican to Australia. But for what? On the renovation of the Pope's embassy in Canberra? For seeking or bribing witnesses in abuse case against Australian Cardinal George Pell?

The media machinery is rattling – but this has not yet made the matter any clearer. Pell was acquitted by Australia's Supreme Court in early April – after initially being convicted in two instances and spending some 400 days in jail.

Speculation about a conspiracy by Vatican officials

Chrissie Foster is among those calling for a full accounting of the flow of money. Their daughters had been raped by a priest in Melbourne. Foster does not want to take part in the speculations about the purpose of the money from the Vatican. They are only interested in the dignity of the victims, who were sexually abused by priests in past decades.

The mere rumor that the money might have been used around witness testimony is enough to undermine the credibility of all abuse victims, she finds.

Speculation about a conspiracy by Vatican officials and Australian authorities against Pell has long circulated on the Fifth Continent. The cardinal has many powerful enemies – but also powerful friends. Among the latter is the media empire of publisher Rupert Murdoch, who dominates the country's social debate with a more than 70 percent share of Australia's print media. Conservative forces like him stood unwaveringly by Pell during the trial.

Who paid Pell's legal fees?

Meanwhile, abuse victims ask – so far unanswered – who paid Pell's legal fees. In addition, according to press reports, several Australian authorities are investigating money flows during the trial – which, according to the newspaper "The Australian", did not amount to the equivalent of around 700.000 euros, but rather about twice that amount. Austrac, the anti-money laundering agency, confirmed to journalists that there had been transactions – but at the same time said it had so far found no evidence of dubious or even illegal payments.

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, who resigned over allegations of corruption, is speculated to be a possible key figure in the case. Did the 72-year-old Italian intend to use the funds to influence the trial of Pell? Becciu, it is claimed, was desperate to prevent a financial reform and fight against corruption in the curia that Pell, as Vatican finance minister, was pursuing on behalf of the pope.

Return to Rome

After his acquittal, Pell last returned to Rome. Pell welcomed Becciu's quasi-simultaneous resignation, saying, "The Holy Father was elected to clean up the Vatican's finances."He hopes that the 'mucking out of the stables' will continue both at the Vatican and in Victoria; the Australian state where Pell long served as a priest and archbishop of Melbourne, and by whose judiciary he feels he has been unfairly treated and persecuted.

As right-hand man to the Bishop of Ballarat, Ronald Austin Mulkearns, who died in 2016, and later as Archbishop of Melbourne, Pell played a role in covering up abuse cases. At least that was the conclusion of the state commission investigating the handling of abuse by churches and other institutions. Relevant testimony and documents were released after Pell's acquittal.

The Pell-related sections of the commission's final report are reportedly the basis for civil lawsuits against the cardinal in courts in Victoria. Under the headline "He knew" demand on the platform Change.org now almost 120.000 signatories called for Pell's removal from the priesthood. The Causa Pell still does not seem to be closed. And there are also many unanswered questions about Becciu and his actions that brought him into disfavor with Pope Francis.

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