AUSTRALIA
Sky News
Melbourne’s Catholic leaders completely failed to deal with pedophile priests as they tried to protect the church, the archdiocese’s former second-in-charge admits.
Former vicar-general Bishop Peter Connors says he has no excuse for why he failed to protect children from Fr Wilfred Baker, who abused 21 children between 1960 and 1985.
‘There was a complete failure of the archbishop and his advisers to deal with these issues,’ Bishop Connors told the child abuse royal commission.
Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan said the failings were often said to be motivated by a desire to protect the church.
Bishop Connors agreed it was a fundamentally damning allegation of the church.
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