Hans Hermann Wilhelm GroërOSB (13 October 1919 – 24 March 2003) was an AustrianCardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Vienna from 1986 to 1995, and became a cardinal in 1988. Pope John Paul II replaced him as archbishop after multiple allegations of sexual abuse of children, and at John Paul's request Groër relinquished all ecclesiastical duties and privileges as an archbishop and cardinal on 14 April 1998.[1]
In 1995, one of Groër's former school students accused him of sexual molestation. A number of others made similar charges shortly thereafter, as did some monks. Pope John Paul II promoted Christoph Schönborn from auxiliary bishop to Coadjutor Archbishop of Vienna on 13 April 1995 and later in the year accepted the resignation Groër had submitted as required on his 75th birthday in October 1994. Groër moved to the Roggendorf monastery, where he served as prior. When new allegations surfaced, Austrian Church officials appealed to the pope, who initiated an investigation in February 1998. In April, at the pope's request, Groër resigned as prior and withdrew from public life. He released a statement that said: "In the past three years there have been many often incorrect statements concerning me. I ask God and the people for forgiveness if I have brought guilt upon myself."[3] After surrendering his Church duties and duties as a Cardinal,[4][5] Groër left Austria as part of a "self imposed exile" for several months and moved into a convent near Dresden, Germany.[4] He continued to work as a confessor in women's monasteries, received visitors and said Mass. Suffering from cancer, his health declined rapidly.[6][7]
Austria's statute of limitations prevented civil authorities from prosecuting Groër. In 2010, Cardinal Schönborn (elevated to that rank in 1998) said that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had attempted to convince Pope John Paul II to initiate the investigation[8][9] and—in a conversation with journalists that Schönborn thought was private—said that Cardinal Angelo Sodano had blocked his attempt to investigate Groër's activities.[10][11][a] Church officials are also alleged to have offered some of Groër's former pupils compensation in return for agreeing not to repeat their charges against him.[9]Hubertus Czernin, author of a book about the case, believes that Groër abused more than 2,000 young men. Groër continued to deny the allegations until his death.[7][13]
Death and eulogies
The grave of Cardinal Groër, in the upper left an ex-voto tablet
Groër died on 24 March 2003 of pneumonia at a hospital in Sankt Pölten, where he had been treated for cancer. Cardinal Schönborn presided at the requiem Mass in St. Stephen's Cathedral and in his homily honoured his predecessor's accomplishments in strengthening Marian devotions in the Archdiocese as well as fostering priestly and monastic vocations.[citation needed] The next day, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, referenced the charges against Groër in his eulogy only to describe how Groër had suffered, noting how Groër was "deeply wounded, even stigmatized by the incidents during his last years as Archbishop of Vienna", that "when the dark cloud gathered over his life ... he sank into loneliness and contempt".[14]
Groër was buried in the cemetery of Marienfeld Abbey, the Cistercian women's monastery he was instrumental in founding in 1974.[6]
Notes
^Pope Benedict XVI met with Schönborn on 28 June 2010 and they were then joined by Sodano. Accounts of their discussions varied.[12]
