AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)
Stephen Crittenden
theguardian.com, Thursday 19 December 2013
The Vatican’s representative in Australia is claiming diplomatic immunity in response to repeated requests for documents that might assist the NSW inquiry into child sex abuse.
Copies of correspondence released by the commission this week reveal the diplomatic stand-off between the papal nuncio, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, and the chair of the special commission of inquiry, Margaret Cunneen SC.
The Cunneen inquiry was established last November to investigate sexual abuse by two priests of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, Father Denis McAlinden and Father James Fletcher (both deceased), following allegations made by a NSW police whistleblower, chief inspector Peter Fox.
The NSW crown solicitor’s office made the request on Cunneen’s behalf on 30 August and again on 22 October, asking for copies of any relevant documents held in the archives of the Apostolic Nunciature in Canberra or the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome.
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