This is evident from a letter from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith dated 16 February, as the diocese announced in a statement published on Tuesday on the status of the investigation into the abuse.
Firstly, it was a mistake not only to inform the local bishop of the accused clergyman about the reported case as required, but also to pass on the entire documentation to him, "as it would have been appropriate to ensure that this did not come into the possession of the accused."
Secondly, the late notification of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was judged to be a formal omission.
According to the Vatican, however, the chronology of the entire affair proves that it was not a case of an attempted cover-up.
The statement quotes from the letter from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to Bishop Gmür: "In view of the above, this Dicastery issues you a warning for lack of caution in the first point and for carelessness in the second. At the same time, however, it should also be noted that there is no evidence of any intention to cover up or any lack of respect for the alleged victim."
Research into the case - Gmür admitted misconduct
The case concerns the handling of alleged assaults by a temporary priest on a minor at the time of the offence in the mid-1990s.
The victim informed the diocese of Basel in 2019.
In mid-August, the diocese confirmed corresponding research by the Swiss magazine "Beobachter" and admitted that Gmür had initially acted correctly, filed a criminal complaint and initiated a preliminary investigation under canon law, but that the criminal complaint was not pursued further due to the statute of limitations.
The canonical preliminary investigation was discontinued due to errors on the part of the investigator without the recommendation of ecclesiastical criminal proceedings, and the prescribed report to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican was initially omitted.
The files were finally sent to Rome by the bishop in July 2023.
An investigation into the case by independent experts, which Gmür had intended, did not materialise as they did not want to carry out an on-site investigation in parallel with a higher authority, in this case the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.