AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Danny Morgan
A Catholic bishop has been accused of trying to protect himself and the church while giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Bishop Brian Finnigan was among a group of priests who handled complaints of paedophilia among priests in the Ballarat Diocese in the 1980s.
Counsel Assisting the Commission Angus Stewart SC asked the bishop why his evidence in a private hearing earlier this year differed from his evidence in public hearings today and last Friday.
“The evidence that you have given for the royal commission on Friday and indeed this morning has not been given in such a way that you have sought to assist the royal commission and the public to understand the history of Gerald Ridsdale in the Diocese of Ballarat,” he put to Bishop Finnigan.
Bishop Finnigan replied that his intention was “certainly not to create confusion”.
Bishop Finnigan: “If I have created confusion because of my various ways of expressing things all I can say is ‘I’m sorry’.”
Angus Stewart SC: “I say to you bishop that in your evidence in this public hearing you have consistently distanced yourself from any knowledge of child sexual assault by priests of the dioceses to protect yourself and to protect the church – isn’t that right?”
Bishop Finnigan: I wouldn’t agree with that.
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