Special fund for victims of abuse affected by statute of limitations

A special compensation fund for victims of priestly sexual abuse whose cases – according to both state and church law – are statute-barred because they occurred too long ago, has been set up by the Swiss bishops’ conference, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

The church authorities had ignored the victims concerned  “for far too long”, the president of the Swiss bishops’ conference, Bishop Charles Morerod of Lausanne, said at a press conference on 5 December. The situation of these particular victims was “especially burdening” for the Swiss bishops and they had therefore decided to set up a special compensation fund for them.

The bishops had put aside an initial sum of 500,000 Swiss Francs (£391,000). The Swiss dioceses, the Association of Religious Superiors and other church organisations in Switzerland were all contributing. An independent commission has been formed to decide the amount of compensation each victim should receive.