AUSTRALIA
ABC
The biggest challenge facing the Royal Commission into the Catholic Church response to sex abuse will be confronting the Vatican’s time-honoured secrecy and obstinate bureaucracy, writes Alex Mitchell. Will they gain access to the church’s documentation or not?
Justice Peter McClellan, the judicial pre-eminence in charge of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, will have his legal and diplomatic skills tested many times in the course of his three-year assignment.
His most engrossing challenge will be confronting the Vatican’s time-honoured secrecy and obstinate bureaucracy.
Many of the documents critical to the commission’s investigation – legal opinions and instructions, case settlements, first-hand testimony and letters of despair – are in files held in the archives of the Eternal City. Another treasure trove is located across Australian dioceses under the control of the Vatican and its representatives.
Will McClellan and his five-member panel, armed with all the powers of a Commonwealth royal commission, gain access to the church’s documentation or not?
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