An official inquiry into the Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland has identified nearly 1,000 cases of sexual abuse since 1950.

Many involved children and 56% of the victims were male, the report said. The vast majority of the accused were men.

Researchers from the University of Zurich also found evidence of a "widespread cover up".

"The cases we identified are without a doubt only the tip of the iceberg," said the study's leads.

Monika Dommann and Marietta Meier compiled the report following a year-long investigation, which was commissioned by Church authorities.

They were given access to Church archives and also held interviews with several people, including those affected by sexual abuse.

 

However, they said "numerous" other documents had not yet been made available.

The researchers also found evidence that records had been destroyed at two dioceses and that not all reported cases of sexual abuse were written down and consequently archived.

 

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"Given what we know from research on the dark figure of crime, we assume that only a small percentage of cases was ever reported in the first place," said Ms Dommann and Ms Meier.

 

FULL STORY

The Catholic Church is besieged by stories of what their own priests have done. Time to tax them, sue them and push them out of business.