AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia
By Jeff Waters and staff
Melbourne Archbishop says confessional is sacrosanct despite inquiry recommending withholding information relating to child abuse be criminalised.
The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne has stood by the church’s stance on keeping information on abuse gained through the confessional secret, despite a Victorian Parliamentary inquiry recommending withholding information relating to child abuse be criminalised.
Denis Hart says he supports all 15 recommendations made by the inquiry into institutional child abuse, but he will not commit to implementing them in full.
Archbishop Hart was speaking to the media hours after a parliamentary committee tabled recommendations that would criminalise the withholding of information relating to child abuse.
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