AUSTRALIA
The Australian
NOVEMBER 28, 2015
Tessa Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne
Former Melbourne archbishop Frank Little sought to convince a woman who fell pregnant to a priest to have the baby adopted, the child sex abuse royal commission has heard.
The commission previously heard Melbourne’s Catholic archbishop from 1974 to 1996 failed to remove pedophile priests including Peter Searson.
Former vicar-general bishop Peter Connors said yesterday that Little, who died in 2008, kept his own files on the priests’ sexual conduct with adults.
Bishop Connors said Little would confide in him, but not about all complaints regarding priests. He said after a priest had told Little he made a woman pregnant, the priest was moved to another parish. Little then went to Bishop Connors, who as vicar-general was effectively the second-in-charge of the Melbourne archdiocese, for help.
“Then eventually he said to me: ‘I’ve got to move him to another state and will you go and meet the woman and get her to get the baby adopted’,” Bishop Connors told the commission.
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