Bishop’s failure: resign, Mr. Gmur!

class=”sc-29f61514-0 icZBHN”>

The President of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference has trust issues. Although Felix Gmur is relatively young for a bishop, he did not understand the complex of abuses. When he learned in 2011 that a priest had assaulted a minor, he did nothing. Canon law has regulated this since 2001: attacks on minors must be reported to Rome. Dot.

Gmyur’s failure has a pattern. In 2019, the “foot massage priest” made headlines. Rien’s pastor was to be a clergyman who gave a massage to a teenager and received a fine for it. And here Gmyur responded only to media pressure. And recently, the Observer reported that Gmyur did not report another case of abuse to Rome – and took action only under pressure from the media.

Gmür reacted in a similar way last week: although he had been informed of the allegations against senior clerics in Switzerland since late May, the bishops’ conference he led only contacted the police after an investigation by SonntagsBlick.

Gmur also failed to convince his fellow bishops to adhere to the standards of preventive work. In the Swiss Catholic Church there is still no systematic monitoring and no inspectors checking the requirements.

Bishop Felix Gmur is just one of many who have not taken this issue seriously enough. However, as president of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, he failed to serve as a role model – he will have to resign.

Source: Blick