Vatican reprimands Swiss bishops for their handling of abuse allegations
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Vatican reprimands Swiss bishops for their handling of abuse allegations
The Vatican has reprimanded several Swiss bishops in connection with allegations of sexual abuse and their handling of it, including cover-ups. The Swiss Bishops' Conference announced on Friday that no canonical criminal proceedings will take place.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
“Errors, shortcomings and omissions in the area of canonical procedural norms have been identified, which the bishops deeply regret,” said the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, summarising the response of the dicastery, a kind of arbitration body in the Vatican. There had been no misconduct that would require the opening of criminal proceedings within the Church today.
In June 2023, the Dicastery for Bishops commissioned the Bishop of Chur, Joseph Maria Bonnemain, to conduct a preliminary canonical investigation to look into various allegations against several Swiss bishops. According to the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, the results were forwarded to the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome at the beginning of this year, to which the Vatican has now responded.
Accusation of sexual abuse
Bonnemain’s mission from the Vatican was to investigate the conduct of four members of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference for possible failure to report assaults. A fifth member of the Bishops’ Conference was to be investigated for alleged sexual harassment.
Nicolas Betticher, former vicar general of the diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, had reported several Swiss bishops within the church for covering up. The abbot of Saint-Maurice in Valais, Jean Scarcella, accused of sexual abuse and cover-up, subsequently resigned from office in September 2023 in order to, as he said, “guarantee the independence of the investigation”.
More
More
What next after Swiss Catholic Church sexual abuse revelations?
This content was published on
The Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland has become the latest in Europe to confront a major abuse scandal.
Also in September last year, the University of Zurich published a study on the extent of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church since the mid-20th century. This study showed that priests and members of religious orders in Switzerland had committed over 1,000 cases of sexual abuse since 1950, although the number of unreported cases is likely to be high.
Adapted from German by DeepL/ac
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.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Should raw milk sales be banned or should consumers decide?
Swiss food regulations do not allow raw milk to be sold for direct consumption. However, a loophole allows 400 raw milk vending machines to do just that.
Is artificial intelligence an advantage or a disadvantage for workers?
What is your experience with AI at work? Have you already used it? Has it helped you work better? Or has it caused you more stress, more work or caused you to lose your job? Tell us about your experiences!
Regional bus travel authorised between Italy and Switzerland
This content was published on
Passengers on public regional bus services between Italy and Switzerland will be able to board and alight within both countries.
Switzerland still gets poor marks on fighting corruption
This content was published on
Switzerland is still not getting good marks from the Council of Europe’s Group of States when it comes to fighting corruption.
Swiss man released after arrest in connection with Austrian bomb threats
This content was published on
A 20-year-old Swiss man was arrested under suspicion that he sent emails with bomb threats against numerous institutions in Austria.
Former top diplomats call on Switzerland to keep UNRWA funding
This content was published on
Some twenty former Swiss state secretaries, and ambassadors have called on the Swiss Senate not to stop payments to UNRWA.
Public prosecutor closes church abuse case in canton Valais
This content was published on
The Public Prosecutor's Office in the southern canton of Valais has closed the case of abuse perpetrated within the Church.
Number of women in Swiss labour market more than doubled in half century
This content was published on
According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, women's participation in the labor market has more than doubled in half a century.
This content was published on
Nestlé recorded slower growth than hoped in the first nine months of 2024, making it difficult to achieve previous growth targets for the year.
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.