Catholic Church reveals names of 29 priests it acknowledges are guilty of child sex abuse
ABC Updated May 31, 2013, 12:43 am
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Australia's top ranking Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has admitted cover-ups of crimes committed by pedophile priests contributed to victims' suicides. Brendan Donohoe reports.
The Catholic Church has released the names of 29 Melbourne priests who it acknowledges are guilty of sexually abusing children.
Last week the Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, told Victoria's child abuse inquiry the church had paid compensation to the victims of 59 priests who had worked in the archdiocese.
The church revealed the names of 29 of those priests on Thursday, including repeat offenders Desmond Gannon and Michael Glennon.
However, it says it will not name the remaining 30 priests because several were dead when allegations were made and they did not have a chance to respond.
The church is also withholding the names of priests who were not charged after police investigations.
Meanwhile, Victorian detectives have applied to question convicted paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale about more allegations of child sexual abuse.
The 79-year-old, who is one of Australia's worst paedophile priests, is serving a prison sentence for abusing children between the 1960s and 1980s.
Ridsdale has a hearing before the Victoria's adult parole board within the next month, but detectives have successfully applied to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court to interview him over abuse committed in the 60s and 70s.
In 1994, Ridsdale pleaded guilty to sexual abuse against 21 children. Seven years ago he was sentenced again over another 35 charges.
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