Swiss abbot says he is target in sexual abuse investigation
A high-ranking Catholic cleric indicated on Wednesday that he was being investigated by the Conference of Swiss Bishops in connection with allegations of sexual abuse and their cover-up.
Jean Scarcella has withdrawn from his role as father-abbot of Saint-Maurice until the end of the investigation.
“The investigation also concerns an accusation that was made against me,” Scarcella wrote in a press release. He indicated that he took the decision to suspend his office in agreement with the Abbey Council and the President of the Conference of Swiss Bishops (CES) to guarantee the independence of the investigation.
He assures the Bishop of Chur Joseph Bonnemain, who is in charge of the investigation, his full cooperation.
+ Swiss Bishops’ Conference orders investigation into hidden sex abuse cases
The CES announced on Sunday that it had ordered the opening of a preliminary investigation on June 23 following accusations of covering up sexual abuse. Accusations were made in a letter “against several emeritus and serving members of the Conference of Swiss Bishops as well as other members of the clergy in the management of cases of sexual abuse”, it said.
+ Sweeping study finds 1,000 cases of sexual abuse in Swiss Catholic Church since 1950
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.