GENEVA

The Vatican has reprimanded several Swiss bishops in connection with allegations of sexual abuse and their handling of it, including coverups, said the Swiss Bishops' Conference on Friday.

“Errors, omissions and failures in the area of canonical procedural norms have been identified, which the bishops deeply regret,” the conference wrote in a statement.

In its letter, the Vatican calls on the bishops and the entire Swiss Bishops' Conference to “act more attentively in the future, to treat reported cases of abuse with the utmost care and expertise and to strictly adhere to all applicable norms of the investigation procedure,” said the statement.

In June 2023, the Vatican instructed Swiss Bishop Joseph Maria Bonnemain to do a preliminary canonical investigation to look into various allegations against a number of Swiss bishops.

According to the conference, personal interviews, questioning, and analysis of various documents from the archives were carried out in collaboration with Neuchatel cantonal Judge Pierre Cornu and Brigitte Tag, professor of criminal law and criminal procedure at the University of Zurich.

The results were forwarded to the Vatican at the beginning of 2024. Rome has now responded with a letter to which the Swiss Bishops' Conference refers in its press release.

The investigation by Bonnemain was triggered by Nicolas Betticher, former vicar general of the diocese of Lausanne, Geneva, and Fribourg, who accused several Swiss bishops within the church of covering up sexual abuse.

The abbot of Saint-Maurice in the Swiss canton of Valais, Jean Scarcella, resigned from his post in 2023 after Betticher's accusations in order to ensure the independence of Bonnemain's investigation.

In its letter, the Vatican reprimands the Swiss bishops, but at the same time refrains from opening criminal proceedings within the church.

“This is not a case of misconduct that would require the opening of criminal proceedings within the Church today,” the Swiss Bishops' Conference quotes from Rome's letter.

The issue of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland is a recurring topic.

In September 2023, the University of Zurich published a study saying that Catholic priests and members of religious orders in Switzerland have committed over 1,000 cases of sexual abuse since 1950, although the number of unreported cases is likely to be high.