ROME
Herald Sun (Australia)
AAP
A prominent and outspoken British member of a papal advisory commission on sexual abuse by the clergy has refused to step down, despite a no-confidence vote, and said only the Pope could dismiss him.
A Vatican statement issued earlier on Saturday said that “it was decided” at a commission meeting that Peter Saunders would take a leave of absence.
Saunders, head of Britain’s National Association for People Abused in Childhood, would now “consider how he might best support the commission’s work”, it said.
But Saunders, who as a child was abused by two priests, told a hastily called news conference: “I have not left and I am not leaving my position … the only person who can remove me is the person who appointed me, the Pope.”
Saunders said he had not been aware of the Vatican’s statement until after it was issued.
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