AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Danny Morgan
A senior Catholic Bishop has admitted he and other leaders of the Archdiocese of Melbourne had not properly addressed child sexual abuse complaints because they wanted to protect the church’s reputation.
Appearing before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Bishop Peter Connors also conceded senior clergy have considered whether they may be guilty of concealing a crime.
As a former Vicar-General of the Melbourne Archdiocese, Bishop Connors was aware of multiple cases of priests abusing children dating back to 1978.
He told the commission he should have done more to convince former Archbishop Frank Little to remove the priests.
It was put to the Bishop that church leaders were motivated by a desire to protect the church from scandal.
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