AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today
ELEANOR HALL: The Catholic Church has responded publicly for the first time to the special commission of inquiry which handed down its findings into two paedophile priests last week.
The inquiry found that senior officials within the Catholic Church knew about sexual abuse allegations against the priests for decades, but failed to act to protect vulnerable children in their care.
The Bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese, Bill Wright, today expressed his “deep and abiding regret”.
As Thomas Oriti reports.
THOMAS ORITI: Australia now has a royal commission examining child sexual abuse at institutions across the country.
But before it was established, a special commission of inquiry in New South Wales spent months examining sexual abuse at the hands of two priests in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese – James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.
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