AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Australian Associated Press
Monday 30 November 2015
A priest “had no hesitation” in breaking the seal of confession to warn a fellow paedophile priest about an altar boy’s abuse complaint, the child abuse inquiry heard on Monday.
Victim BTU told Father Wilfred “Bill” Baker in a neighbouring Melbourne parish that Father Ronald Pickering was sexually abusing him in 1968. However, Baker was also a paedophile.
Baker spoke to the boy after the 13-year-old used confession to reveal what Pickering was doing to him.
BTU said: “The conversation was not about the abuse that I disclosed to him; instead what Fr Baker wanted to know was where I lived … I thought this was odd.”
It got back to Pickering. “By mentioning it to Fr Pickering, Fr Baker clearly had no hesitation in breaking the seal of my confession to him and also Fr Pickering appeared to be agitated and was clearly concerned about this.”
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