AUSTRALIA
The Australian
DAN BOX From: The Australian July 04, 2013
THE Pope’s representative in Canberra, and potentially the Vatican itself, were involved in an attempt by senior Australian Catholic bishops to defrock a pedophile priest rather than report his crimes to police, an inquiry has heard.
Three successive bishops in Newcastle also had knowledge that Father Denis McAlinden was abusing children, while bishops in England, The Philippines and Papua New Guinea were warned of allegations against him.
In an exchange of letters with McAlinden during the 1990s, the late bishop of Maitland-Newcastle Leo Clarke asked him to petition the Holy See in Rome for a formal laicisation — effectively ending his career as a priest.
“Your good name will be protected by the confidential nature of this process,” Clarke wrote.
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