AUSTRALIA
9 News
Pope Francis will be judged by how he deals with child sex abuse by clergy, says a senior NSW police officer who helped spark Australia’s royal commission into the issue.
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox blew the whistle on an alleged cover-up of child abuse by priests in the Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in the Hunter region.
He said he hoped Pope Francis could change the course of the church, but if he was committed to address the child abuse problem he needed to overcome powerful factions within the Vatican.
“It’s not just the Pope we need to look at,” he told AAP on Thursday.
“We need to look at the whole hierarchy of the Catholic Church for change.
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