Switzerland: Catholic media director calls on bishops to resign

The outgoing director of the Catholic Media Centre in Zurich, Charles Martig, has voiced harsh criticism of the Swiss bishops and called on them to resign due to their handling of the abuse cases in the country's Catholic Church. 

"The demand for the resignation of all Swiss bishops is justified. They have shown themselves to be incapable of leading the Church through the crisis," Martig said on Tuesday during his farewell address, according to his speech manuscript, which is available to katholisch.de. 

The loss of trust among the public is enormous.

Martig: Bishops should disclose reasons for veto against journalist Müller

Even after the publication of the study on abuse in the Church in Switzerland last September, the impression remains that church leaders continue to limit the damage and that the protection of clerics and monks is more important than clarification. 

"The failure of the Catholic Church in terms of abuse is multiplied by defensive communication," Martig continued to emphasise. 

Although the discussion about abuse is now being conducted "much more in-depth and seriously", we are still only at the beginning of an arduous journey. 

"So far, all measures are just promises for the future. 

And this more than 20 years after the first public discussion in the USA and 14 years after the outbreak of the crisis in Germany," criticised Martig.

In his speech, Martig also called on the bishops to reveal the reasons for their rejection of journalist Annalena Müller as the new director of the Catholic Media Centre. 

"Can we expect a public statement from the current media bishop Josef Stübi?" asked the 58-year-old. 

On 8 March, the bishops had refused to give the journalist, who most recently worked as head of service at kath.ch, the necessary "nihil obstat" for her appointment as director despite a previous unanimous election by the centre's board. 

At the beginning of this week, it was then announced that Müller would be leaving kath.ch to become the new editor-in-chief of the Bern-based "Pfarrblatt" on 1 July. Kath.ch is losing a "capable and competent journalist" as a result of the bishops' veto, said Martig.

"The complaints and attacks have tired me out and worn me down"

With regard to his own work, Martig gave himself a good testimonial: "As the Catholic Media Centre, we wanted to prove that Catholic journalism is relevant to society. And that is exactly what we have achieved!" 

Since 2019, the profile of kath.ch in particular has been further sharpened and clearly positioned with critical commentary, in-depth research and good stories. 

However, as Director of the Media Centre and Editor-in-Chief of kath.ch since 2023, he has also dealt with countless conflicts; he receives complaints on a weekly basis. 

"The complaints, attacks and constant questions about the legitimacy of our new Catholic journalism tired me out and wore me down," admitted Martig.  

In particular, he saw a media communiqué from the Swiss Bishops' Conference last June, in which the bishops distanced themselves from kath.ch, as a "direct attack".

At the beginning of November last year, it was announced that Martig would be leaving his position as Director of the Catholic Media Centre and Editorial Director of kath.ch on 31 March this year. 

Martig will move to the Roman Catholic Church of the Canton of Bern on 1 April 2024 and take over the development of a new competence centre for communication there, it was reported at the time.