By Catherine Bosley
Post Chronicle
June 3, 2010
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212304878.shtml
Switzerland's Roman Catholic bishops said on Wednesday there had been a big jump in reports of sexual abuse by priests in recent months and announced strict new rules to help prevent more cases.
The Swiss bishops' conference said between January and May 2010 it had received reports of 72 perpetrators abusing 104 victims, up from 14 perpetrators and 15 victims in 2009. This was the first such study ever of Swiss dioceses, it said.
Recent revelations of priests abusing children in Ireland, the United States, Austria and Germany and accusations of bishops covering up for errant priests have severely tarnished the Church's image worldwide.
The scandal has had huge fallout in neighboring Germany, where the Bavarian-born pope's brother was accused of physical abuse and the top Catholic official, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, is now being investigated for covering up abuse.
There have been some reports of abuse in Switzerland this year but no public outcry as in other countries.
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| File photo of Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of the German Bishops\' Conference, attending a news conference at the Vatican March 12, 2010. Photo by Tony Gentile |
"Sexual assaults in pastoral care cannot be tolerated," the bishops said in a statement, adding that victims needed to be able to exercise their rights so that justice would be served.
"The perpetrators have to be held accountable, even if the assaults took place a long time ago and the perpetrators have died," it said.
As elsewhere in Europe, most of the Swiss cases took place decades ago - only nine of the 104 victims have been abused since 1990. Most the victims were under the age of 17.
The bishops also reformulated their rules, saying Church officials should alert law enforcement authorities when they had sufficient evidence of abuse, except when the victim or a representative objected.
Criminal charges had to be pressed if there was no other way to prevent imminent danger of pedophiles re-offending, the conference said.
Priests taking up new posts could only do so after presenting a statement of character from their prior superior, the bishops said, after finding some cases had not been sufficiently investigated when priests had switched dioceses.
The conference said the new rules were clearer than the previous ones, but not substantially different.
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