GERMANY – The archbishop-elect of Berlin has said that he will meet with gay activists, even after they criticized his appointment as the new archbishop of the German capital.
At a recent press conference, Archbishop-elect Rainer Maria Woelk said, “We will meet with each other. I have respect and esteem for all people, independent of heritage, skin color and individual nature. I am open to all without reservations.”
Announced on July 2, the appointment of the 54-year-old auxiliary bishop of Cologne was immediately met with hostility.
Openly gay German parliamentarian Johannes Kahrs told the newspaper Berliner Zeitung, “The Church does itself no favor by sending to Berlin a representative of a backwards persuasion that contradicts peoples’ attitudes towards life. Archbishop-elect Woelk openly has a problem with gay people.”
Archbishop-elect Woelk succeeds Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky, who died last month at the age of 75, after a long illness.
Although Catholics are a minority in Berlin – numbering about 390,000 amidst a population of 3.5 million – the post of archbishop carries significance because the city is the German capital.
