AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Paul Donoughue
Former pope John Paul II handled sex abuse claims within the church “poorly” because he simply could not grasp the scale of the problem, a retired senior Bishop in Sydney says.
Geoffrey Robinson, a key player in the church’s response to child sexual abuse by members of the clergy between 1994 and 2003, is giving evidence today before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney.
Bishop Robinson said he felt the Vatican was far behind in its understanding of the problem worldwide, and that John Paul II — the Pontiff from 1978 to 2005 — showed little leadership on the issue.
“If I am honest, he handled abuse poorly,” Bishop Robinson told the inquiry.
“It didn’t fit into his image of church, and he couldn’t deal with it.”
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