Canon lawyer Anuth on the situation in Cologne | DOMRADIO.DE
Cologne’s archbishop is given a “time out” and the archbishopric is given an “apostolic administrator”. What consequences does this have in terms of canon law? The Tübingen canon law professor Bernhard Sven Anuth classifies.
DOMRADIO.DE: Is there a sabbatical passage for diocesan bishops in canon law? Is something planned?
Professor Bernhard Sven Anuth (Canon Lawyer University of Tübingen): No, something is not known by canon law. You had to realize that when the Archbishop of Hamburg was granted his leave of absence without having asked for it, unlike Cardinal Woelki now.
There is now no legal basis for the canon law granted to the cardinal allegedly at his own request. But the Pope is master of canon law, he is not bound by his own law. And he is free to legally “invent” such a break or simply to create facts.
DOMRADIO.DE: But it doesn’t seem that unusual. You have just spoken to the Archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Heße. There was something like that in Speyer too. It’s not unusual now.
Anuth: The bishop may have been in Speyer. That was a completely different situation. Hamburg and Cologne are both commonplace and I would still describe processes as unusual. It is important to distinguish whether a diocesan bishop is temporarily prevented from exercising his office, for example due to illness. Church law knows comprehensive precautionary measures for this, since the vicar general carries out the official business until the bishop is back on his feet.
But in such a case, which we are now talking about – and the Cologne and Hamburg cases are related – the cause was the question of how the sexual abuse of minors was dealt with in the Catholic Church. And the Archbishop of Hamburg had been accused of specific violations of legal obligations. Incidentally, this is different from Cardinal Woelki now.
In the communication from the nunciature, the Pope expressly certifies that he did not do anything wrong here. In both cases, not a temporary inability to exercise the office is the basis for the granted leave. But in Hamburg it was the allegations of violations of the law in dealing with sexual abuse. In Cologne it is the pastoral unrest that reigns in the archdiocese and that the Pope now wants to pacify with this break.
DOMRADIO.DE: Pastoral unrest, something like that has happened before. In the diocese of Limburg that was also the reason for such a break, wasn’t it?
Anuth: Bishop Bätzing, as chairman of the Bishops’ Conference, in his reaction to the decision from Rome, which I read was very cautious, expressly drew a parallel to the Diocese of Limburg and thus implicitly pointed out that a resignation of the Cardinal of Cologne with this papal decision still continues is not excluded. Because at the end of the review in Limburg is the acceptance of Bishop Tebartz-van Elst’s offer of resignation.
DOMRADIO.DE: The outcome is also quite open. Everything is possible. Also that such a break can be extended or shortened?
Anuth: Basically that is conceivable. I do not consider it likely that it will be shortened, because the end of the time-out has now been named very specifically. We do not yet know when exactly it will begin. We are talking about mid-October, that is quite vague. The beginning of the time-out WILL therefore result from the appointment decree for Auxiliary Bishop Steinhäuser, who will then become Apostolic Administrator.
And – at least according to today’s announcement – there WILL be an express limitation of his appointment in it, just until Ash Wednesday 2022, the cardinal will be given all rights again or the appointment of Auxiliary Bishop Steinhäuser as administrator will be extended again. The Pope is free to deal with the applicable canon law.
DOMRADIO.DE: You already said it: Auxiliary Bishop Steinhäuser will take over the archbishop’s work as administrator. What is such an administrator allowed to do? Can he, for example, merge parishes in a future project? How far does his decision-making power go?
Anuth: If you now look into canon law, into the registered ecclesiastical code of 1983, and look for an apostolic administrator, you will not find it. The old church law no longer offers a legal basis for this legal figure. The war in the old Codex from 1917 was still different. He specifically knew an apostolic administrator, now in our case “sede plena”, that is, while the bishopric is still occupied.
But that was not included in the new Codex of 1983. The Pope simply continues to apply legal norms here – because he can – that are no longer in force formally.
But if you look at the old Codex – and the Pope will understand this as the basis for his actions and Cologne is not the first case in which he has acquired Apostolic Administrators – then it follows that the Apostolic Administrator is not a representative of the diocesan bishop, but a papally appointed head of the particular church, including the Archdiocese of Cologne, who is endowed with all the powers that the diocesan bishop otherwise has. Also as a short answer to your question: the apostolic administrator can do everything a diocesan bishop can do, including pastoral decisions regarding the amalgamation of parishes.
DOMRADIO.DE: How about the vicar general? When Cardinal Woelki takes a break as archbishop, the vicar general is automatically no longer in office, right?
Anuth: No, the vicar general remains in office, because the diocesan bishop also remains in office. We are dealing here with the legal construction that the apostolic administrator becomes, but the bishopric of Cologne remains occupied. This means that Cardinal Woelki will not lose his office as diocesan bishop. Nor does the Vicar General “die” with him in office, as would be the case if he resigned. The Vicar General then represents the Apostolic Administrator during this period, just as he previously represented Cardinal Woelki.
DOMRADIO.DE: How is it when Cardinal Woelki makes up his mind during the break and says: I offer the Pope my resignation. He resigns. Then the procedure starts. A new selection is then determined via the cathedral chapter, as it is. But can the Pope intervene and say: I’ll just make the administrator archbishop? It was already there.
Anuth: He cannot do this simply because he is thereby violating current state church law. From a global church perspective, it is the rule that the Pope freely appoints the bishops. The situation that we know as a standard in Germany is owed to the local state church law norms. This means that state and church have agreed this election in contracts, in so-called concordats, by the cathedral chapters in the vast majority of German dioceses.
In this respect, the Pope would probably not choose the path of enforcing his universal church law and simply appointing someone. But if Cardinal Woelki thinks during this break, perhaps also at the papal suggestion, whether a resignation is not the better way for him and the Archdiocese of Cologne, then he is of course completely free, at any time, whether after one or only after three months offer the Pope this resignation.
If the Pope accepts this resignation, a new legal situation will arise because the bishop’s seat in Cologne will become vacant. And then the Pope will decide, depending on whether he withdraws the Apostolic Administrator because he is expressly as administrator vacancy heads the diocese until the cathedral chapter receives a list, i.e. the famous three-person list, from which it then the new one Archbishop can choose.
DOMRADIO.DE: And what is an archbishop entitled to in a break? Certainly he can then continue to celebrate church services, but not appear as archbishop in his diocese. Or how does it work?
Anuth: This is also not clearly regulated. That will probably be the subject of the agreement between the Pope and Cardinal Woelki. As the ruling archbishop he is certainly not allowed to appear in his archbishopric during this time, because he is losing his authority for the duration of the appointment of the apostolic administrator. Because this not only rests, but passes over to the Apostolic Administrator. That is, the Pope reserves all the power that the diocesan bishop otherwise has for the Apostolic Administrator. Cardinal Woelki does not lead the Archdiocese of Cologne at this time and will therefore not act as the ruling archbishop.
DOMRADIO.DE: But that doesn’t mean that he can’t stand at the altar much of Christmas as a co-celebrant?
Anuth: No, that is not impossible. But whether it is wise to make a public appearance, that WE agree with yourself or with the Pope when & and, if necessary, with the Apostolic Administrator, so that the impression of competition does not arise. After all, there is no canonical provision as to what he may or may not be allowed to do during a time-out, because church law does not recognize such a time-out.
DOMRADIO.DE: And then church law probably doesn’t know the way in which such a break is then dissolved? There is no ritual there, and everyday business will probably just continue when the archbishop returns to his office as archbishop?
Anuth: Once again: He is and will still be Archbishop of Cologne, even during this break. It has been announced today that the Apostolic Administrator will be limited to the beginning of Lent. And that would mean that at the end of this period, the cardinal’s diocesan bishop’s powers, which had been withdrawn, would automatically be transferred back to him.
That means, according to what we got to read from the Nunciature today from Berlin, that if everything is implemented in this way, no new act of reinstatement or the like would be needed, but rather the powers to lead the diocese from the administrator at the end of the period simply switch back to the diocesan bishop.
DOMRADIO.DE: Let me summarize again: Archbishop Cardinal Woelki will remain in office, but from mid-October he will be an archbishop on leave, an archbishop without powers. And during this break, the diocesan administrator, in this case Auxiliary Bishop Rolf Steinhäuser, takes over the powers of the archbishop in the Archdiocese of Cologne.
Anuth: YOU have understood that correctly with the small correction that it is an apostolic administrator and not a diocesan administrator. At first glance this is a canonical delicacy, but at second glance it is not at all. Because the diocesan administrator is elected during the vacancy, the apostolic administrator is appointed by the Pope in the Archdiocese of Cologne from outside.
That was absolutely necessary from the Cologne Weihbisch administrator. One could also have imagined that the Pope would bring someone from outside, perhaps also to take a fresh look at the conditions in the Archdiocese of Cologne during the time when Cardinal Woelki is on time off. He has chosen someone from the diocese who knows the diocese. In this respect, no surprises are to be expected.
The interview was conducted by Johannes Schröer.