FOX Says Pope to Be Judged on Abuse Issue

9 News
March 14, 2013

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/03/14/13/13/fox-says-pope-to-be-judged-on-abuse-issue

Pope Francis will be judged by how he deals with child sex abuse by clergy, says a senior NSW police officer who helped spark Australia's royal commission into the issue.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox blew the whistle on an alleged cover-up of child abuse by priests in the Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle in the Hunter region.

He said he hoped Pope Francis could change the course of the church, but if he was committed to address the child abuse problem he needed to overcome powerful factions within the Vatican.

"It's not just the Pope we need to look at," he told AAP on Thursday.

"We need to look at the whole hierarchy of the Catholic Church for change.

"The past history has shown that a lot of people very high up in the church, even the odd one here and there who genuinely want to make change, have been resisted by other factions within the church."

Insp Fox said he hoped the royal commission into institutional child sex abuse had already made approaches to obtain files on Australian clergy sex abuse cases held at the Vatican.

He said a similar inquiry into clergy abuse in Ireland had come up against a brick wall when it approached the Vatican for information.

"The mantle of this new Pope will be judged by his actions to genuinely deal with this scandal, particularly senior clergy who cover-up or live in denial," Insp Fox said.