Swiss diocese hired abusive priest in 1970s

A western Swiss diocese admitted it hired a priest in 1971 knowing he had sexually abused children.

The Basel diocese said it made an unjustifiable and wrong assessment when it hired Father Gregor Mueller, knowing he had been dismissed from his previous post in neighbouring Germany for sexual abuse.

Mueller was subsequently transferred back to a German monastery before going to the eastern Swiss diocese of Chur in 1992.

It was there that the sexual abuses came to light when a victim recently informed the diocese.

Chur said Mueller resigned after admitting to sexual abuses in the German monastery as well as another one in Austria.

Basel said it did not know if Mueller committed sexual abuses during his work in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, a Benedictine monastery in the central Swiss town of Einsiedeln has acknowledged it received several reports of sexual abuse since 1970s. None led to prosecutions.

Five priests were implicated in the alleged abuse, three of whom are still employed at the monastery, abbot Martin Werlen told Swiss television SF.