Australian Catholic Archbishop Philip Wilson found guilty of concealing child sex abuse
A court in Australia has found a Catholic archbishop guilty of concealing child sexual abuse in the 1970s.
The archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has become the most senior Catholic in the world to be charged and convicted of the offence.
Wilson was found to have covered up the abuse of altar boys by a paedophile priest colleague in New South Wales. During his trial, he had denied being told about the abuse by some of the victims.
In a Church statement, Wilson said he was 'obviously disappointed' with the verdict and would consider his legal options, the BBC reported.
Last month, Wilson told the Newcastle Local Court that he had no knowledge of the actions of the priest, James Fletcher. They took place when Wilson was an assistant priest in Maitland, 130km (80 miles) north of Sydney.
Fletcher was later convicted of nine child sexual abuse charges in 2004. He died in prison in 2006.
One of the victims, a former altar boy Peter Creigh, told the court that he had described the abuse in detail to Wilson in 1976, five years after it had taken place.
Wilson's claims that he had no memory of the conversation were rejected by Magistrate Robert Stone, who said he found Creigh to be a reliable witness.
Magistrate Stone said the priest knew 'what he was hearing was a credible allegation and the accused wanted to protect the Church and its reputation'.
Another victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court that he disclosed the abuse in the confessional box when he was aged 11. He said that Wilson told him he was telling lies and to recite 10 Hail Mary prayers as punishment.
In emotional scenes outside the court following the decision, abuse survivors praised the verdict. Creigh told the media: 'The decision will hopefully unravel the hypocrisy, the deceit, and the abuse of power and trust that the church has displayed.'
Wilson's lawyers had attempted to get the case thrown out four times, after the 67-year-old was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Wilson will be sentenced in June and faces a maximum two-year jail term.
