Vatican Walsh Whistleblower Priest
Whistleblower priest Father Glen Walsh told his next-door neighbour that the Vatican had instructed him to be a hostile witness when he was called to testify against an Archbishop accused of concealing crimes of sexual abuse.
Neighbour Jamie Hay said he chatted to Father Walsh in October 2017, about 10 days before he took his life and three weeks before the Archbishop’s trial was due to begin. Father Walsh was expecting a visit from a senior member of the clergy, who he planned to take to task over the number of paedophile priests being housed by the Catholic Church.
The conversation turned to his disillusionment with the church over its handling of sexual abuse claims and Father Walsh told Mr Hay that he had met with the Pope about the upcoming trial of Archbishop Philip Wilson, in which he was due to testify for the prosecution.
“He didn’t name anyone in particular, but he said the expectation from Rome was, they didn’t ask him but they said, ‘You will be a hostile witness’,” Mr Hay said. “He was a really devoted servant of the Catholic Church and it was heartbreaking.”
There are mounting calls for an investigation into Father Walsh’s death. Father Walsh was told shortly before his death that the diocese clergy would never accept him after the way he had exposed them, and he could be found a new post somewhere in the third world, according to a new book The Altar Boys.