AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Christine Kearney
Newly appointed bishops have been advised by the Vatican that it’s “not necessarily” their duty to report suspects of clerical child abuse to authorities.
The unofficial advice given to senior clergy at an annual global training course held last year was that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police.
Victims of the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal are reacting angrily to the revelations.
The Australian Catholic Church said it agreed with victims, calling for an Australian federal law requiring the reporting of all abuse victims to police.
The papers were presented at what was described as an annual ‘Vatican crash course’ for about 185 newly named bishops around the world.
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