Posted on 03/25/2002 10:28:02 AM PST by ikanakattara
WALENSTADT, Switzerland (AP) - A 63-year-old Roman Catholic priest is in custody on suspicion that he sexually abused children, the head of the local church council said.
Herbert Hobi said he told the congregation in the small eastern town of Walenstadt of the arrest of 63-year-old Alois Fritschi after their Palm Sunday service.
He read a letter from the Bishop of the St. Gallen diocese, Ivo Fuerer, that said he had accepted the priest's resignation. Fritschi had served in Walenstadt for almost five years.
St. Gallen cantonal police said Fritschi had been in custody since March 12.
Marc Ellen, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Swiss Bishops Conference, told The Associated Press on Monday that the number of cases of sex abuse by priests in the past 10 years in Switzerland "can be counted on the fingers of one hand."
In an annual pre-Easter message to priests last Thursday, Pope John Paul II denounced the "grave scandal" of priests implicated in sex-abuse cases rocking the Roman Catholic Church.
It never was just an American problem.
Yeah, I have been noticing this usage of "children" more and more when it's obviously about boys in about 99 out of 100 of these cases. Of course, the press isn't biased, though, and they wouldn't want to mislead the public with their stories.
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