RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – A church investigation is underway into allegations “against several emeritus and incumbent members of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference and against other clerics in dealing with cases of sexual abuse.
Catholic bishops in Switzerland issued a statement and made the investigation public. Some of them are accused of having committed sexual assaults in the past”.
A letter containing the information was forwarded to the dicastery for the bishops at the Vatican and Bishop Joseph Bonnemain was appointed to investigate, with his report due to be completed by the end of the year.
The statement says “The main subject of this preliminary church investigation is the allegations of covering up cases of abuse… The responsible public prosecutor’s offices were informed about the cases mentioned in the letter”.
The aim of the investigation is to determine whether there are sufficient indications for the initiation of church criminal or disciplinary proceedings.