Bishop Joseph Maria Bonnemain

Joseph Maria Bonnemain is Bishop of Chur, Switzerland. Joseph Bonnemain was born on 26 July 1948 in Barcelona, Spain. After secondary school, in 1967 he studied medicine at Universität Zürich, graduating in 1975. He then completed philosophical and theological studies in Rome. He was ordained a priest on 15 August 1978, being incardinated in the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei. He studied canon law in Navarra, graduating in 1980. At the same time he carried out pastoral ministry for workers and farmers in the region of Navarra, as well as at the technical university. From 1981 he served at the episcopal curia of Chur as diocesan judge and from 1982 as vice-judicial vicar. From 1983 to 1991 he was a member of the delegation of the Holy See to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. From 1985 he was chaplain of Limmattal Hospital in Zürich. In 1989 he was appointed judicial vicar of the Diocese of Chur. From 2002 he was secretary of the commission for sexual abuse established by the Swiss Bishops' Conference. In 2003 he became canon of the cathedral chapter of Chur, in 2008 member of the episcopal council, and in 2009 chaplain of His Holiness. From 2011 he was episcopal vicar for corporations of civil ecclesiastical law and for the cantons of the diocese.