AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times
May 20, 2013
Daniel Fogarty and Genevieve Gannon
Melbourne’s most senior Catholic has admitted the church covered up child sexual abuse, was slow to act against abusing priests and placed its own interests ahead of victims.
Archbishop Denis Hart says a knighted former archbishop kept reports of sexual abuse to himself and that the church was keen to look after itself when addressing complaints, placing its reputation ahead of victims.
He described the sexual abuse scandal as “one of the darkest periods” in the church’s history and conceded victims had committed suicide.
“The question of confidentiality of these matters was probably kept in one sense too much in that the church was too keen to look after herself and her good name and not keen enough to address the terrible anguish of the victims,” Archbishop Hart said on Monday.
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