Australian bishop convicted of covering up sex abuse resigns
Announcement came just days after a US cardinal quit following allegations he fondled a teenage altar boy in the 1970s
Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of an Australian archbishop convicted in a criminal court of covering up the sexual abuse of children by a priest, after coming under mounting pressure from Catholics, priests and even the Australian prime minister.
It was the second sex abuse-related resignation in three days.
Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson was convicted in May of failing to report to police the repeated abuse of two altar boys by a paedophile priest in the Hunter Valley region north of Sydney in the 1970s. He became the highest-ranking Catholic cleric ever convicted in a criminal court of covering up abuse.
Wilson had refused to resign pending an appeal of his case, though acknowledged as recently as last week that calls for his sacking were increasing. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull added his voice to the chorus on July 19 in urging Francis to fire him.
In a one-line statement on Monday, the Vatican said Francis had accepted Wilson’s resignation. At 67, Wilson is well under the normal retirement age for bishops of 75.