2023-09-19 11:39:05
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Vatican is studying the findings of a church investigation into “very serious and deeply disturbing” allegations that a former Australian bishop sexually assaulted minors, a church leader said Tuesday.
Christopher Saunders, now 73, resigned in 2021 as bishop of Broome, a diocese in the Outback larger in area than France but with a population of just 50,000, following police announced they were closing an investigation. regarding sexual crimes. Saunders resigned a year earlier, when the accusations appeared in the media.
The ecclesiastical investigation into Saunders began last year following the police investigation ended, said Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Bishops’ Conference, the highest authority of the Church in the country.
A report of the investigation, overseen by Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, was sent to the Vatican, where the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was continuing to investigate, Costelloe said.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is the Vatican office that processes cases of abuse of minors by clergy, according to the Church’s internal canon law.
“Bishop Saunders, who has maintained his innocence, can respond to the report by contacting the Holy See directly,” Costelloe said in a statement.
“In due time, the Holy See will make its decision. It is hoped that this will not be unduly delayed,” Costelloe said.
The archbishop issued a statement following Australian television station Seven Network reported on Monday night the contents of the 200-page Vatican report.
The report concluded that Saunders likely sexually assaulted four Indigenous youth and may have pressured another 67 Indigenous youth and men, according to the network.
Costelloe declined to comment on specific allegations.
“The allegations once morest former Broom Bishop Christopher Saunders issued on Monday night are very serious and very disturbing, especially to those making the allegations,” Costelloe said. “It is right and appropriate that they be investigated exhaustively.”
Western Australian Police said they had requested a copy of the Vatican report.
“If more information comes to light, police will investigate,” the statement said.
Police had conducted two investigations into allegations once morest Saunders between 2018 and 2020. Prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to bring charges, according to police.
Saunders is now Australia’s most senior cleric accused of sexual abuse, in a scandal that has touched the Church around the world.
Cardinal George Pell was the third most senior cleric at the Vatican in 2018 when he was convicted by an Australian court of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choir boys at Melborune Cathedral in 1996, when Pell was archbishop.
Pell spent 13 months in prison before the convictions were overturned on appeal. He maintained his innocence until his death in Rome last January.
Saunders began working in Broome as a deacon in 1975 and became a bishop in 1996.
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