AUSTRALIA
9 News
Links to pedophile priests are a common factor in a string of suspicious Melbourne church fires, but the Catholic church doesn’t believe this is what motivated the arsonist.
Police are investigating the cause of three suspicious fires over 48 hours in churches at Brighton, St Kilda East and Dandenong.
All three churches have links to known and alleged sexual abuse, but Regional Bishop Peter Elliott has suggested another, more general motivation.
“I would suggest it rests in a very disturbed mind of an arsonist that likes burning churches,” Bishop Elliot told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday.
Emergency crews were called to the most recent blaze at a Dandenong church at 2am on Wednesday and extinguished the fire.
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