AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
BY PATRICK CARUANA AAP NOVEMBER 13, 2013
SENIOR Catholic Church leaders protected pedophiles, allowed them to keep offending and kept Victorians in the dark about the problem.
A Victorian parliamentary report is scathing of the church’s leadership prior to the 1990s, saying child abuse was trivialised and their protection of pedophiles meant abuse happened when it could have been avoided.
Archbishop Denis Hart apologised to victims and said previous responses to abuse cases were inexcusable, calling it the worst betrayal of his lifetime in the church.
“I fully acknowledge that leaders in the church made mistakes – these are indefensible,” he told reporters.
“I have to accept that church leaders in the past concealed crimes and caused other children to be offended against.”
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