Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 11, 2023 / 10:00 am
The Swiss Bishops’ Conference on Sunday revealed an ongoing Vatican-ordered investigation into the handling of sexual abuse allegations by Church officials, with the inquiry expected to run until at least the end of the year.
The conference said in a statement on Monday that allegations had been made in May of this year “against several emeriti and acting members of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference” as well as against “other clerics in their handling of sexual abuse cases.”
Swiss Church authorities forwarded the allegations to the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome. Several weeks later the dicastery “ordered a preliminary canonical investigation into the matter,” appointing Swiss Diocese of Chur Bishop Joseph Bonnemain to lead the inquiry.
Bonnemain previously handled similar investigations in Switzerland for more than 30 years, the conference said. His investigation “is underway and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.”