Pope accepts resignation of Aussie archbishop who concealed sex abuse
ROME — Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of Australian Archbishop Philip Wilson, the most senior Catholic Church leader to be convicted in a criminal court of concealing sexual abuse, the Vatican said.
The move follows a period in which Francis faced mounting pressure to take action against Wilson, a top figure in an Australian church that has been deeply scared by decades of abuse cases.
It is the second time in three days in which Francis has accepted a resignation stemming from sexual abuse — part of global reckoning for a church that has long been reluctant to discipline those at its highest echelons. On Saturday the former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, became the first cardinal in history to step down due to allegations of sexual abuse.
Wilson had previously refused to resign, saying he was entitled to due process and was pressing forward with an appeal.
He was sentenced recently to a 12-month detention sentence for what an Australian court says was his failure to report cases of sexual abuse carried out in the 1970s by a priest, James Fletcher. Two altar boys said they told Wilson about abuse at the hands of Fletcher, and in the courtroom, one described how the priest had forced him to strip and kneel as he masturbated. Prosecutors said that Wilson did nothing with the information.