The sentencing was another step toward holding the church to account for a global abuse crisis that has also engulfed Pope Francis' Financial Minister, Australian Cardinal George Pell. Some lawyers said they expect many more clerics to be charged in Australia as a result of Wilson's test case.
Survivors of abuse who protested against the church outside the court yesterday called on Wilson to resign as archbishop. They carried signs accusing the church of hypocrisy and describing it as a "fraudulent cult". One of Fletcher's victims, Peter Gogarty, an advocate for fellow survivors, said he was disappointed that Wilson had walked free from court, but "there is no doubt the archbishop has received a significant sentence". Survivors remained pleased by the landmark conviction, he said.
"We have made history here in Australia: The highest-ranked church official to ever be brought to account for what we know was a worldwide systematic abuse of children and the concealment of that abuse," Gogarty told reporters.
Another victim, Daniel Feenan, said he would not have been abused by Fletcher as a 12-year-old in 1988 if Wilson had spoken out about the allegations he heard in 1976. "I do feel I've got justice," Feenan said.
Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Bill Wright said Wilson as a bishop had taken vigorous action against child abusers. As bishop of Wollongong, Wilson had rejected a Vatican ruling that a suspected paedophile priest should return to duty.
Prosecutors last month told the magistrate that Wilson must be jailed to send a message that such institutional cover-ups will no longer be tolerated.
Australian state governments are ramping up pressure on the church to report child abuse and are legislating to prosecute priests who maintain that revelations of paedophilia made in the confessional cannot be disclosed. Wilson did not use the seal of the confession as an excuse for failing to acting on allegations against Fletcher. Instead, Wilson testified that he did not recall ever hearing allegations against his fellow priest.
Fletcher was arrested on unrelated child abuse charges in 2004 and died in prison of a stroke in 2006 while serving an almost eight-year sentence.
A five-year national inquiry into child abuse recommended in December that priests be prosecuted for failing to report evidence of paedophilia heard in the confessional.
South Australia state which will bring in laws in October obliging priests to report evidence of abuse heard during a confession. The Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania state are planning similar laws.
But acting Adelaide Archbishop Greg O'Kelly said priests would not obey the law.
"Politicians can change the law, but we can't change the nature of the confessional," O'Kelly said last month.
Pell, who served at the Vatican as one of the Pope's top aides, has become the highest ranking Catholic in the world to be charged in the church's global abuse scandal.
The 77-year-old faces trial in his home state of Victoria on decades-old child sex abuse allegations. Pell has denied wrongdoing. Details of the allegations haven't been made public.
- AP
