AUSTRALIA
Sky News
A Melbourne archbishop was blinded by loyalty to the priesthood when he ignored years of complaints from parishioners about a gun-toting paedophile priest, an inquiry has heard.
Hundreds of complaints about Doveton parish priest Peter Searson went nowhere because then Melbourne archbishop Frank Little did not want to believe it.
Monsignor Thomas Doyle told the sex abuse royal commission that Archbishop Little was blinded to reality by his great respect for the priesthood and loyalty to priests.
‘I think he had an exaggerated respect for the priesthood, and I think he really didn’t think these things were happening,’ the archdiocese’s former Catholic Education Office (CEO) director said.
‘I don’t think he believed Fr Searson was innocent, but I think he was in some sort of denial that these things were happening.’
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