"Bild" newspaper loses lawsuit against Archbishop Woelki
In an article from 2021, German newspaper Bild claimed that Archbishop Woelki intentionally endorsed a priest suspected of engaging in sexual activities with children. Woelki refutes these claims and filed a lawsuit against the paper, winning an injunction.
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Cologne supported Woelki's case amid a dispute with the newspaper's publisher, Axel Springer Verlag. The court representative informed that the appeal by the publishing company was unsuccessful. Earlier, the Cologne Regional Court sanctioned Woelki's lawsuit against the release of certain passages of an online article published in May 2021. The OLG recently sanctioned Woelki's injunction too.
The Archbishop filed charges against the publisher and the content's author for spreading false information. This involved the case of a priest who was accused of sexually abusing a minor over two decades ago. Moreover, there were subsequent allegations of abuse. Woelki, unaware of the warnings against the priest, promoted him as deputy dean of Düsseldorf in 2017.
The Regional Court found problematic passages of the challenged article, which implied that Woelki had access to the priest's personnel file, including a police warning. The OLG corroborated Woelki's claim of being harmed in his reputation due to these problematic passages. The court saw the newspaper's reporting as ambiguous, possibly leading people to believe Woelki had seen and knew about the priest's documents.
The OLG further opined that the press must convey precise and clear information. The reporting in this situation was found to lack clarity, and the appeal was not authorized. Yet, a grievance about the denial of admittance can be filed with the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe.
Read also:
- The Catholic Church has been facing international scrutiny due to numerous cases of sexual abuse and harassment within its ranks, and the Archbishop Rainer Maria Woelki's handling of a priest's case added to these concerns.
- Amidst these processes, Archbishop Woelki was accused of endorsing a priest suspected of sexual abuse, a claim he vehemently denied and for which he filed a lawsuit against "Bild" newspaper for spreading false information.
- The international community also observed the Catholic Church's response to allegations of sexual harassment within its institutions, such as the case involving Archbishop Woelki and his handling of the priest under investigation.
