AUSTRALIA
International Business Times
By Sounak Mukhopadhyay
New South Wales Police have charged Adelaide Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson with concealing child sexual abuse. This is related to the offences committed by Jim Fletcher, the Hunter region paedophile priest, who worked with Wilson in the ‘70s.
According to NSW Police, the investigation is a part of its operation “Strike Force Lantle”. It said that the operation, launched in 2010, there were serious allegations against clergy “formerly and currently attached to the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese of the Catholic Church” of serious child abuse offences. Police have accused 64-year-old Wilson of concealing a serious offence. According to police, Wilson failed to report a case of child sex abuse allegedly committed by Fletcher.
Wilson is scheduled to appear the Newcastle Local Court on Apr. 30. He issued a statement announcing that he was taking leave from his position as he had been notified of the charges against him. The former Bishop of Wollongong was known as a “healing bishop” there because of the way he had handled child-abuse controversies.
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