Australia Bishop charged with rape

Australian Bishop Christopher Saunders, 74, has been charged with two counts of rape, 14 counts of unlawful and indecent assault, and three counts of indecently dealing with a child as a person in authority. Bishop Saunders was arrested in Broome on Wednesday after the investigations ordered by Western Australia police and the Pope. The offends occurred between 2008 and 2014 in the remote West Australian towns of Broome, Kununurra and the Aboriginal community of Kalumburu. On Thursday, Mr Saunders was temporary released and ordered to reside at his home until his next hearing in June. ABC News

Australian Bishop Christopher Saunders, 74, has been charged with two counts of rape, 14 counts of unlawful and indecent assault, and three counts of indecently dealing with a child as a person in authority.

Bishop Saunders was arrested in Broome on Wednesday after the investigations ordered by Western Australia police and the Pope.

The offends occurred between 2008 and 2014 in the remote West Australian towns of Broome, Kununurra and the Aboriginal community of Kalumburu.

On Thursday, Mr Saunders was temporary released and ordered to reside at his home until his next hearing in June. ABC News reported.

In a statement on Thursday, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference promised to cooperate with police, and said the charges against Mr Saunders were "very serious and deeply distressing, especially for those making those allegations".

"It is right and proper, and indeed necessary, that all such allegations be thoroughly investigated," Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe said.

Mr Saunders became Priest in 1976 and spent his time in Kimberley region before becoming Bishop of Broome in 1996. In 2020 he voluntarily resigned from the position.

The accusations were first aired in 2020, but the initial police investigation that followed was closed without charge.

Aside from the late Cardinal George Pell, who was jailed and then acquitted, Mr Saunders is the most senior Catholic official in the country to be charged with child sex offences.