COLOGNE (GERMANY)
The Messenger [Washington, DC]
August 18, 2023
By Nick Gallagher
Most of the sites were blocked by the archdiocese’s protective filters
More than a dozen Catholic Church staffers in Cologne, Germany used church-supplied computers to try accessing pornography, local outlet Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger first reported.
The Archdiocese of Cologne discovered in July 2022 that at least 15 employees, including one high-ranking priest, had attempted to view porn on church computers roughly 1,000 times over a single month.
The practice in question is strictly prohibited by the Catholic Church.
There was no indication that anyone had broken the law. Church officials reportedly handed over their findings to authorities in June after a layman who worked for the church was suspected of viewing child sexual abuse material in a separate incident.
The Church discovered while investigating IT and cybersecurity threats. Most of the sites were blocked by the archdiocese’s protective filters.
Germany’s largest archdiocese has been rocked by a series of scandals in recent years. Earlier this year, authorities searched several archdiocese buildings while investigating Cologne’s Archbishop, Rainer Woelki, who is accused of lying about his knowledge of past sexual abuse incidents in the church.
A 2021 report counted more than 200 abusers who had committed crimes against 300 victims in the archdiocese from 1975 to 2018, per the BBC. In June, the archdiocese was reportedly ordered to pay roughly $323,000 to a victim who had been repeatedly abused by a priest in the 1970s.