Vatican shares investigation into child abuse allegations against an Australian bishop with police

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Catholic Church says the Vatican has shared with police findings of an internal investigation of a former Australian bishop over child sex abuse allegations and will fully cooperate with criminal investigators. The church announced the handover of its investigation report into former Bishop Christopher Saunders on Friday three days after the Western Australia Police Force publicly revealed it had requested a copy. Saunders denies any wrongdoing and refused to participate in the Vatican investigation, which began last year. He resigned in 2021 as bishop of Broome ater police announced they had dropped a sex crime investigation. He had stood down a year earlier after media reported the allegations that Saunders sexually assaulted four Indigenous youths.