Australian archbishop convicted of covering up child sexual abuse
The test case was another step toward holding the church to account for a global abuse crisis.
St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Adelaide, South Australia. Some rights reserved by Bahudhara.
An Australian archbishop on May 22 became the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the world convicted of covering up child sexual abuse.
Magistrate Robert Stone handed down the verdict against Philip Wilson, archbishop of Adelaide, in Newcastle Local Court following a magistrate-only trial. Wilson, 67, had pleaded not guilty to concealing a serious crime committed by another person: the sexual abuse of children by priest James Fletcher in the 1970s. Fletcher died in prison of a stroke in 2006 while serving an eight-year sentence.
Wilson had made four attempts in the past three years to have the charge struck out without a trial.
