AUSTRALIA
Sky News
A Victorian bishop who spoke favourably at an accused pedophile priest’s funeral now says he was in an difficult and awkward position.
Fr Nazareno Fasciale was given a funeral with full religious honours when he died of cancer in 1996 while awaiting trial for child sex abuse.
Bishop Peter Connors said he felt he was in a difficult position after then Melbourne archbishop Frank Little asked him to officiate at the funeral mass.
‘I did not feel that I could make any statement about the allegations of abuse at his funeral or express sorrow to victims, when the matter had not gone to court,’ Bishop Connors said in a statement to the child abuse royal commission.
Bishop Connors, then an auxiliary bishop in the Melbourne archdiocese, said he was careful to ensure the homily referred to Fasciale’s failings and the fact that he too was a sinner.
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