Bishopric of Basel admits mistakes in sex abuse case

Felix Gmür, the bishop of Basel, says mistakes have been made on his watch © Keystone / Urs Flueeler

The bishopric of Basel has admitted that it made procedural errors in its handling of a case of alleged sexual abuse.

“This is a failure that must not be repeated,” said Bishop Felix Gmür on Friday.

The bishopric of Basel, based in Solothurn, was reacting to an article in the current affairs magazine Beobachter which said a Nigerian auxiliary priest working for the diocese of Basel had sexually abused a minor on several occasions between 1995 and 1998.

The victim reported the abuse to the Catholic Church in 2019. A commission of the bishops’ conference recognised the woman as a victim and paid her compensation of CHF15,000 ($17,000). According to Beobachter, however, the abuse had no consequences for the alleged perpetrator.

The bishopric said in a statement on Friday that the article in Beobachter was an opportunity to “recognise the mistakes that have been made, correct them immediately and avoid them in future”. The procedural errors would have caused additional harm to the person concerned, it said.

“The bishop deeply regrets this, as well as the fact that the right of the person concerned to dignified treatment and to a procedure in accordance with canon law has not been respected in the past,” it said.

The bishopric said the case was currently being examined in Rome to ensure that justice is done.

It explained that when the victim denounced the abuse, a criminal complaint was lodged with the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. Due to the statute of limitations, the complaint was closed. A preliminary ecclesiastical investigation had also been opened to ascertain whether there was sufficient evidence to initiate criminal proceedings under canon law, it said.

Second mistake

According to the bishopric, the person in charge of the preliminary investigation was of the opinion that this was not the case. He therefore wrongly assumed that the person concerned had to sign documents. In the absence of a signature, the preliminary investigation was closed without the case being reported to Rome.

This was a second mistake, it said. According to the obligation to report under canon law, the case should always have been forwarded to the competent authority in Rome.

For this reason Gmür has re-examined the case and corrected the error, the bishopric said in its statement. All the files were sent to Rome on July 4.

In 2010 the Swiss Catholic Church finally accepted responsibility for cases of sexual abuse by priests that had earlier come to light. In 2019 it was reported that over 300 victims had come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against priests in Switzerland since 2010.