Pope meets with Swiss victims of sexual abuse

Pope Francis held a private meeting in the Vatican with two Swiss victims of sexual abuse on Saturday during which he asked for their forgiveness on behalf of the Catholic Church.

“I apologize to each of you,” Pope Francis told the two victims – a man and a woman. The 63-year-old man says he was beaten and sexually abused several times as a teenager by monks in a reformatory in Bad Knutwil in Canton Lucerne. The 74-year-old woman said she was a victim of violence and sexual abuse in a children’s home run by Catholic nuns in Malters, also in Canton Lucerne.

The two victims were accompanied by Guido Fluri, who founded an initiative for reparations for victims of coercive measures in Switzerland. According to Keystone-SDA, the Guido Fluri Foundation indicated that the Argentinian Pope told the victims that, “those who abuse children are a danger to society and must be tried in secular courts”. The culture of concealment is over, he added, positioning himself in favour of zero tolerance – without reservations.

After the meeting, Fluri was cautiously optimistic. He indicated that it was an important sign to those affected that the Church fully recognizes the great suffering that has been inflicted on the victims in the church environment. While words are important Fluri stressed, they “must be followed by action – for Swiss victims and for those from all over the world”.

According to Keystone-SDA, this is the first time Swiss victims shared their experiences of suffering with the Pope in a private setting. The Vatican invited Guido Fluri and a group of victims of abuse to a general audience in 2015.

The meeting between Pope Francis and the Swiss delegation was held one week after a historic summit on the fight against paedophilia. At the summit, the Pope promised the Catholic Church would take strong measures against sexual abuse and put an end to its concealment.

Initiative for reparations

At the end of 2014, Guido Fluri, an entrepreneur from Solothurn, launched the initiative for reparations, which requested CHF500 million ($500 million) for child labourers and other victims of coercive measures. Less than two years later, Parliament approved an indirect counter-proposal with a budget of CHF300 million. Approximately 9,000 people submitted applications.

Coercive measures were in use in Switzerland until 1981. Tens of thousands of children and young people were hired on farms or placed in homes. Many were poorly treated or abused. Some were forcibly sterilized, used for drug tests or imprisoned without trial because their lifestyle did not correspond to authorities’ conceptions.