AUSTRALIA
SBS
AAP
The abuse royal commission will hold public hearings later this month in Ballarat, the site of some of the worst child sex abuse by clergy in Australia.
The Catholic Church’s failures in dealing with some of Australia’s worst pedophiles will be laid out before the abuse royal commission when it sits in the Victorian town of Ballarat this month.
Church representatives and even clergy who have been convicted of child sex abuse will be called before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Victims still scarred by the abuse will have the chance to tell their stories while residents are expected to give evidence about the impact of child sexual abuse on the Ballarat community.
The royal commission public hearing, beginning on May 19, will also hear about the response of church authorities to the sexual abuse and its impact on victims, and to the conviction of clergy members for child sex abuse.
The church has admitted the former bishop of Ballarat made a “tragic mistake” by not removing one of Australia’s worst pedophiles when he became aware of sexual abuse allegations against the priest.
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