Arr! The German archbishop be mighty vexed with his crew's futile plunderin' for salacious treasures!
2023-08-18
Arrr! The bishop be mighty flabbergasted! Me heart sank as I discovered me crew o' landlubbers were tryin' to plunder explicit treasures on their work machines. Scallywags, beware the wrath o' the archbishop!
The Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, expressed disappointment over employees using work computers to attempt to access pornographic websites. The archdiocese confirmed the existence of a list that showed over 1,000 attempts to access such sites, with numerous employees involved, including senior clerics. The archdiocese stated that its IT service provider routinely checks for attempts to access risky content, but they do not monitor individuals' usage habits. The check did not reveal any indication of criminal behavior. Cardinal Woelki expressed his disappointment that employees attempted to access pornographic pages despite the firewalls in place. He agreed with Pope Francis, who condemns pornography and warns of its dangers, particularly the violation of human dignity.The archbishop requested an examination of the incidents as soon as he learned about them and stated that the archdiocese has many committed and reliable employees. The internal investigation showed that Cardinal Woelki himself was not among the users of the incriminated sites. Cologne prosecutors have the list and are examining it, but there is currently no suspicion of any crime or investigation.
The issue comes at a time when the archdiocese is facing an unprecedented crisis of confidence centered around Cardinal Woelki. He previously withheld a report on how local church officials handled sexual abuse allegations, angering many Catholics. Another report found instances of high-ranking officials neglecting their duties. The report cleared Cardinal Woelki of neglecting his legal duty, but he admitted to making mistakes in past cases. Papal envoys were sent to investigate, and their report resulted in the Vatican giving Cardinal Woelki a "spiritual timeout" and criticizing communication errors. In March 2022, Cardinal Woelki offered to resign, but Pope Francis has not yet acted on it.