AUSTRALIA
The Illawarra Mercury
July 22, 2018
By Joanne McCarthy
Australia’s Catholic priests have issued an extraordinary appeal to the Pope to remove Archbishop Philip Wilson, saying his refusal to resign is “galling” to priests and the community.
The executive of the National Council of Priests of Australia “wholeheartedly” endorsed calls for Wilson’s resignation only a day after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten backed Hunter abuse survivor Peter Gogarty’s call for the Pope to sack the Adelaide archbishop, formally a Wollongong bishop.
In a strongly worded statement described by Mr Gogarty as a “landmark” for the Australian Catholic Church, the NCP slammed the archbishop for refusing to resign after he was convicted of failing to report child sex allegations about Hunter priest Jim Fletcher to police.
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