The archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Woelki who has organised the action, said in a statement that “the death bells demand a change in policy that provides a way for refugees to enter Europe legally.” . . .
Explaining the form of the demonstration, the spokesperson said “in the Catholic Church we have a tradition of ringing church bells when one of our community has died – these are the ‘death bells.’”
I do not recall this archbishop calling for death bells for the Christians who were thrown overboard in the Mediterranean by Muslims. I suppose they’re included in the total number, which encompasses all of the antichristian Muslims who like killing Christians, whether on or off boats. These are the true members of the archdiocese of Cologne’s community.
Woelki was appointed archbishop of Cologne last year by Pope Francis. He had earlier been appointed archbishop of the smaller Berlin archdiocese by Pope Benedict XVI, when people supposed that he was more or less a conservative. He quickly proved this supposition false:
The 57-year-old’s appointment in Berlin was met with heavy skepticism at the time. Woelki was seen as a charge of the former archbishop of Cologne, Joachim Meisner, an outspoken and rather conservative theologian. . . .
But Woelki caught the German capital off guard, seemingly changing his stance on issues including homosexuality. Having previously written that same-sex relationships were against “the order of creation,” Woelki changed his tune in 2012: “If two homosexuals take responsibility for each other, if they are loyal to each other over the long term, then one should see this in the same way as heterosexual relations.”