Christopher Saunders Kieran Tapsell
Title: Broome Bishop bows out of national conference as police and Vatican investigations continue
Author: Erin Parke
Publisher: ABC News
Date: 16MAY2020
The Catholic Church is maintaining its silence on the status of its ongoing investigation into the leadership and financial practices in its Broome diocese in West Australia’s Kimberley region.
Key points:
- A Vatican investigation into the Broome diocese is being conducted largely by phone and has so far focused on management style, financial practices, and visits to remote Aboriginal parishes
- The church inquiry is separate to ongoing police investigations of alleged sexual misconduct
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Bishop Christopher Saunders has voluntarily stood aside from his role and did not to attend this week’s Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
Catholic Bishop of Broome Christopher Saunders voluntarily stood aside in March after the Vatican took the unusual step of ordering an investigation into the running of the remote northern diocese.
On March 11 the Holy See ordered an apostolic visitation — a church-led investigation aimed at improving the diocese.
Bishop Saunders, 70, has remained living in a church-owned property in Broome but did not attend the recent biennial meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
The Vatican inquiry came in the wake of a series of complaints to catholic authorities and the public revelation of a WA Police investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.
For more information visit: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-16/catholic-church-investigation-broome-bishop-christopher-saunders/12249322