VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
Josephine McKenna Religion News Service | Feb. 7, 2017
VATICAN CITY
Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher said he was ashamed and humiliated by revelations that 7 percent of Australia’s Roman Catholic clergy may have abused children between 1950 and 2010.
The alarming figure was presented by the church to an Australian inquiry looking into institutional sex abuse.
“The church is sorry and I am sorry for past failures that left so many so damaged,” Fisher said.
“I know that many of our priests, religious and lay faithful feel the same,” he said. “As Catholics, we hang our heads in shame.”
The Vatican press office distributed a link to Fisher’s statement on Monday, Feb. 6, and declined to make any further comment.
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More than 4,440 Australians claim to have been victims of church abuse between 1980 and 2015, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was told.
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