A special commission was set up after accusations that a police investigation into child sexual abuse allegations in Maitland-Newcastle diocese was a sham.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox asserted there was a "Catholic mafia" in the New South Wales police which covered up crimes.

He claimed he had been forced to stand down from an investigation into allegations about two paedophile priests, Frs Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher.

The special commission's report, delivered to the New South Wales state government on May 30, found no evidence to support Detective Chief Inspector Fox's claims.

He subsequently told Fairfax he stood by his actions and would "walk the same path" if such matters came before him again.

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen determined that a number of senior Catholic clergy intentionally misled investigations and were unreliable witnesses.

The conduct of some senior clergy was also called "inexcusable".

The commission found that information supplied to the police by Bishop Michael Malone, head of Maitland Newcastle diocese from 1995 to 2011, was both "late and inaccurate".

Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference general secretary Fr Brian Lucas was found to have failed to protect children in attempting to have Fr McAlinden resign from ministry, rather than reporting him to police.

The commission also found there is sufficient evidence to warrant the prosecution of a senior church official.

In an initial response to the commission's findings, Bishop Bill Wright of Maitland-Newcastle diocese said the report had his complete respect.

But he said reading it will be a bitter exercise for members of the diocese.

Bishop Wright, in a video posted to YouTube, reiterated previous apologies to victims, their friends and families and others.

He said his was not the only church to have had abusive priests, and it was not the only institution to have failed to protect children.

"However none of that diminishes the historical realities that we as a diocese have to deal with," he noted.

"I believe that the Cunneen report will be a significant step in that process."

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• Maitland Mercury
• Bishop Wright statement (YouTube)
• Image: ABC

A French journal, La Vie, had reported that the Medjugorje commission appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in March 2010, and chaired by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, would present its report to the Pope by the end of 2012.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the report was "not true" and that the commission's findings will take longer.

"I have spoken with Cardinal Ruini and I can assure you that it will take longer," Father Lombardi told the National Catholic Register in the United States.

"Among other things, the commission must first give its opinion to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to discuss, so it'll be a long time yet."

Father Lombardi's remarks match those made by allegedly informed, but unnamed, sources quoted in Bosnian media, saying many more conversations need to take place.

After the commission's report is examined by the congregation, it will be given to the Pope who will have the final say.

The commission, which has been working in strict secrecy, is studying the phenomenon of reported Marian apparitions which began in the small town in the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (then Yugoslavia) in 1981.

These apparitions continue regularly to this day, according to the shrine's six "seers", attracting hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year.

The local hierarchy, however, has sought to discourage the "Medjugorje phenomenon", prompting the Vatican to carry out its own investigation.

Source:

National Catholic Register

Image: Medjugorje.ws