Swiss Diocese of Sion announces action plan on sexual abuse
The action plan comes in response to an audit published in June that found poor management of sexual abuse accusations in the church.
Louis Dasselborne
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss Diocese of Sion announces action plan on sexual abuse
The Diocese of Sion has outlined an action plan to deal with sexual abuse. The measures detailed on Tuesday in a press release are designed to put the victim at the centre of any approach.
The Diocese of Sion’s action plan aims to professionalise its counselling system, improve record-keeping and prevention, and enhance collaboration with victims’ associations. In concrete terms, abuse counsellors for the French-speaking part of the diocese will be trained on these aspects at the Institut Catholique de Paris, while a code of good conduct designed to prevent any abuse will be presented to pastoral workers.
A new flyer, entitled “Dare to talk about it”, details the four main places where victims of sexual abuse in the Church can be “listened to, supported or directed”. The document is being distributed to parishes, according to the diocese.
More
More
Swiss diocese of Sion criticised for handling of victims of sexual abuse
This content was published on
The hearing of victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was inappropriate in many cases in the diocese of Sion. This is the conclusion of an external and independent audit of the diocese’s handling of abuse.
These measures follow the publication and presentation in June of the results of an external audit conducted by Vicario Consulting into the management of sexual abuse within the Diocese of Sion. The report singled out the Catholic institution’s “intimidating, confusing and unsupportive” reception when listening to victims, as well as “institutional inertia in handling cases and a lack of proactive follow-up”.
In response, the diocese of Sion promised to implement an action plan. “We want to put the victim at the centre of everything we do, because that’s who we have to think of first,” said Vicar General Pierre-Yves Maillard.
Towards a historical study
The audit also gathered “several disturbing concurrent testimonies” suggesting that within the Fully parish, between 1929 and 1983, under the aegis of a parish priest, “problems of sexual abuse may have been perpetrated”. Fully is located in the southern canton of Valais.
On Tuesday, the Diocese of Sion announced that it was also in contact with the Chair of Church History at the University of Fribourg to launch a historical study into the situation.
Further audits
Other audits of Catholic institutions are underway in Switzerland. The Abbey of St-Maurice, which is not part of the Diocese of Sion but reports directly to the Vatican, has commissioned an independent working group to carry out a similar audit. The results are expected by mid-2025.
These audits come after a study by the University of Zurich commissioned by three Catholic bodies. The researchers counted 1,002 cases of sexual abuse in Switzerland since the middle of the 20th century. According to them, this is just the tip of the iceberg, as most cases have not been reported and documents have been destroyed.
Translated from French by DeepL/jdp
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.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
What factors should be taken into account when inheriting Swiss citizenship abroad?
Should there be a limit to the passing on of Swiss citizenship? Or is the current practice too strict and it should still be possible to register after the age of 25?
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
Trump tariffs: ‘I’m a bit perplexed’, says former US ambassador to Switzerland
This content was published on
The former US ambassador to Switzerland, Edward McMullen, says he is optimistic for the Alpine country with regard to the 31% tariff on imports imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Swiss Federal Court upholds Beny Steinmetz’s bribery conviction
This content was published on
Switzerland's highest court has upheld the conviction of French-Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz for bribery of foreign public officials.
This content was published on
The Trump administration has imposed a 31% tariff on imports from Switzerland. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter has warned against "giving in to alarmism" in an interview published on Saturday,
This content was published on
Scientists have shown that bonobos combine their calls into complex sound sequences that resemble combinations of human words.
This content was published on
US parliamentarians have threatened the UN Human Rights Council with sanctions similar to those against the International Criminal Court (ICC).
This content was published on
Thanks to abundant snowfall, lift operators benefited from increased visitor numbers, with the number of guests jumping by 12% year-on-year.
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.