The general assembly of the Central Conference of the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland, which met on Friday and Saturday, voted on measures to combat sexual abuse in the clergy. The assembly rejected a proposal for financial sanctions.
This content was published on
3 minutes
RTS
Two weeks after the publication of a preliminary report on sexual abuse in the clergy, the Swiss Catholic Central Conference made some surprising statements. The committee of the umbrella organisation made four demands and concluded its letter with a financial threat should talks with the bishops fail.
More
More
Should Switzerland add a new article on religion to its Constitution?
This content was published on
In Switzerland, questions of religion are largely handled at the cantonal level – which can lead to some gaps in legislation.
With 1% of the public money paid to the Catholic Church, the Central Conference can exert significant financial pressure, amounting to CHF13 million ($14.9 million). However, this financial leverage was not accepted.
“Discussion is more effective than threats”
Roland Loos, who was elected President of the Roman Catholic Central Conference of Switzerland by the assembly on Friday, told Swiss public television RTS that financial sanctions were no longer useful.
“Over the past months and weeks, we have rebuilt a new climate of trust. […] A lot has happened in recent months at a remarkable speed. We are not used to seeing this in the Catholic Church.”
He added: “We now believe that discussion, persuasion and explanation will be better methods than simply issuing threats”.
Four measures adopted
The four demands put forward by the committee – some of which have already been implemented – were all accepted by a large majority this weekend. The assembly – made up of people who work in the cantonal churches, either as employees or volunteers – recognises that the institution can do better.
More
More
How a national Church tribunal might help fight sexual abuse
This content was published on
The Swiss Catholic Bishops’ Conference has proposed a national ecclesiastical tribunal to deal with cases of sexual abuse. An expert explains.
Here are their demands: first to provide external support to the bishop who investigates their peers, second to give more prominence to the abuse-reporting service, third to create an ecclesiastical criminal court and finally to no longer discriminate against laypeople who apply to the diocese because they are cohabiting, divorced or homosexual.
“Rigid and homophobic sexual morality is one of the systemic causes of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church,” wrote the committee of the Central Conference of Catholics to justify the demands voted on Saturday.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Zurich: how the world capital of housing shortages is tackling the problem
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Pope was a person full of respect: Swiss president
This content was published on
Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter, who is attending the funeral of Pope Francis, says the pontiff was always full of respect.
Ex-sect member sentenced in Zurich for sexual abuse
This content was published on
Zurich District Court has sentenced a former member of the globally active sect "Children of God" to a partial prison sentence.
SNB chairman does not rule out slowdown in Swiss growth
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), does not rule out a weakening of the Swiss economy in light of the tariff dispute.
This content was published on
Almost 34,600 people left the Catholic Church in Switzerland last year. That’s 300 more departures than the previous record figure of 2021.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.