AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Australian Associated Press
theguardian.com, Monday 25 August 2014
The Catholic church did not take abuse allegations seriously enough and showed too much sympathy to paedophile priests, Melbourne’s archbishop has admitted.
Archbishop Denis Hart said the church had come down too often on the side of the priest when allegations were made.
“I would see that people sometimes have a greater deal of sympathy for a church person than they should have, and they didn’t sufficiently identify the crime that that person had committed for what it was,” Hart told the child abuse royal commission on Tuesday.
“I think these times have made us see quite clearly both in what we think and know but also in our action what we must do.”
Hart also acknowledged that apologies he had sent to victims of paedophile priests were identical form letters with just the names changed.
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