AUSTRALIA
ABC News
Reporter: Emma Alberici
Reporter Joanne McCarthy from the Newcastle Herald helped expose the Catholic Church’s protection of paedophile priests. She speaks to Emma Alberici about the decision to charge Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson with covering up the sexual abuse of children in the Hunter Valley.
Transcript
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The Catholic Church is facing serious allegations of covering up crimes.
The Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has taken leave after being charged with concealing child sexual abuse.
The charge relates to a long-dead notorious paedophile priest, Jim Fletcher, in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in New South Wales.
Archbishop Wilson was a junior priest at the time when he worked with Fletcher. It’s alleged Philip Wilson was told Fletcher had abused a child in 1976.
Archbishop Wilson isn’t speaking to the media, but he’s declared his innocence in a statement in which he reaffirms his “commitment to dealing proactively with the issue of child sexual abuse.”
Back in 2010, Archbishop Wilson said he was unaware of any abuse allegations.
PHILIP WILSON, ARCHBISHOP, CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ADELAIDE (Stateline SA, ABC TV, May 20 2010): Well, I think that it’s all based on the claim that I knew that there was something happening. I did not know and therefore there was no way in which I had responsibility to do anything.
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