AUSTRALIA
7 News
ANNETTE BLACKWELL
July 6, 2014
News that the Vatican will not hand over all documents about Australian priests who molested children has been greeted with derision at a major gathering of abuse survivors in Sydney.
Justice Peter McClellan, chair of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, told the 14th anniversary forum of Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) on Saturday the Holy See had provided two sets of documents about two priests.
However, the Vatican had informed the commission “that requests for all information regarding every case – which include requests for documents reflecting internal ‘deliberations’ – are not appropriate”.
The Holy See said it maintained the confidentiality of internal deliberations related to its judicial and administrative proceedings.
Justice McClellan’s comments were greeted with cries of derision and moans of despair from dozens of victims of Catholic Church abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.