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Study reveals hundreds of sexual abuse victims in Swiss Catholic Church

A study into sexual abuse in the Swiss Catholic Church has identified almost a thousand victims and widespread efforts to cover up abuse, researchers at the University of Zurich said Tuesday, warning it was "just the tip of the iceberg".

Study reveals hundreds of sexual abuse victims in Swiss Catholic Church
The monastery of Montcroix in Delemont, north-western Switzerland. Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI/AFP.

The year-long inquiry by historians, commissioned by Church authorities, identified 921 victims since 1950 and found that most cases either went unreported or documents containing information were destroyed.

Researchers found that “Church leaders ignored, concealed or minimised most cases of sexual abuse analysed until the 2000s”.

“When they were forced to act, they often did so not by focusing on the people concerned, but to protect the perpetrators, the institution or their position”, the report said.

The study, which will be completed by a further three-year research campaign, comes after similar efforts to uncover clerical abuse in other parts of the world.

“It is without doubt just the tip of the iceberg”, said Professor Marietta Meier, who led the study along with colleague Monika Dommann.

According to the initial findings, 74 percent of victims were children, while a total of 510 people, almost all men, were found to have committed the abuse.

More than half of the victims were male and almost 40 percent were female, the study found.

The subject “has preoccupied us for a long time now and we are distressed and ashamed by it,” Renata Asal-Steger, president of Switzerland’s Roman Catholic Central Conference, told a press conference.

“We have missed the point, we gave countless excuses and our actions fell short of what the victims are entitled to,” she added.

Asal-Steger emphasised that “it is an important day for the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland”.

“Even though atrocious acts and countless failings within the ranks of the three national organisations of the Catholic Church will be brought to light today, we are grateful.”

Swiss bishops said Sunday that they had opened a preliminary inquiry into accusations of a cover-up of sexual assaults within the Church.

It was set up following “allegations made against several emeritus and serving members of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference as well as other clergy members in the handling of cases of sexual abuse”, the group said in a statement.

Member comments

  1. It is absurd that the church is investigating itself.

    Any other organisation accused of mass rape and pedophilia would have their doors broken down by the police and a merciless investigation would ensue. How is this not considered a criminal case to be handled by the courts?

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CRIME

Mystery persists as missing Swiss paintings reappear

One of the Switzerland's top art museums announced Sunday the return of two paintings that went missing last year, refusing to provide details in a case still under investigation.

Mystery persists as missing Swiss paintings reappear

Kunsthaus Zurich offered in June 2023 a reward of 10,000 Swiss francs ($11,100) for information that could help it track one painting by Flemish painter Robert van den Hoecke and another by the Dutch Golden Age artist Dirck de Bray.

The small paintings disappeared when the Kunsthaus took down more than 700 works for cleaning and restoration after a fire broke out in August 2022.

But no trace of the two paintings could later be found.

On Sunday, the museum said only that its restoration experts had confirmed both paintings were in “good condition”, with no indication of how or when they turned up.

Because of ongoing police inquiries, “no further information will be released for the time being,” the Kunsthaus said.

Museum officials had alerted the missing works to the Art Loss Register, the world’s largest database of lost and stolen pieces.

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