BERLIN — The archbishop of Cologne, one in all Germany’s most necessary Catholic dioceses, on Friday expressed disappointment that staff used work computer systems to attempt to entry pornographic web sites.
The assertion from Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki got here after the town’s Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper reported {that a} listing from the archdiocese confirmed greater than 1,000 makes an attempt to entry such websites from its computer systems. It mentioned that dozens of staff, together with senior clerics, had made such makes an attempt.
The archdiocese confirmed the existence of an inventory. It mentioned that its IT service supplier routinely checks whether or not its firewalls fend off makes an attempt to entry websites with dangerous content material comparable to violence, pornography and medicines, and that they don’t seem to be meant to examine people’ utilization habits.
It mentioned that the examine turned up “no indications of criminally related conduct.”
“It dissatisfied me that staff tried to entry pornographic pages with the assistance of gadgets that our archdiocese made accessible for his or her work — though the firewalls kicked in,” Woelki mentioned.
“To some, the consumption of pornography might seem innocent,” he added. “However I agree with Pope Francis, who condemns it and warns of its risks, specifically the violation of human dignity.”
The archbishop mentioned he requested for the incidents to be examined as quickly as he heard of them. He added that the archdiocese has many “dedicated and dependable” staff.
The archdiocese mentioned its inner investigation had proven that Woelki himself wasn’t one of many “customers of incriminated websites,” German information company dpa reported.
The problem got here to gentle because the archdiocese experiences an unprecedented disaster of confidence centering on Woelki, a conservative who has grow to be a divisive determine within the German church.
In 2020, Woelki saved beneath wraps a report he commissioned on how native church officers reacted when monks had been accused of sexual abuse, citing authorized issues and infuriating many native Catholics. A second report, revealed in March 2021, discovered 75 {cases} by which high-ranking officers uncared for their duties.
The report absolved Woelki of any neglect of his authorized obligation with respect to abuse victims. He subsequently mentioned he made errors in previous {cases} involving sexual abuse allegations.
Two papal envoys had been dispatched to Cologne to research doable errors by senior officers in dealing with {cases}. Their report led the Vatican to present Woelki a “ religious timeout ” and criticize main communication errors.
In March 2022, after his return, the archbishop mentioned he had submitted a proposal to resign. Francis nonetheless hasn’t acted on it.