ADELAIDE, Australia, March 17 (UPI) -- Philip Wilson, the Catholic archbishop of Adelaide, Australia, has been charged for allegedly covering up the sexual abuse of children by a priest during the 1970s.
Wilson is accused of failing to report priest James Fletcher for raping young boys dating back the 1970s in the Maitland-Newcastle region. Fletcher died in 2006 while serving a prison sentence for raping a boy between 1989 and 1991.
Police charged Wilson, 64, with concealing a serious offense.
Wilson released a statement saying he was disappointed in the charge.
"The suggestion appears to be that I failed to bring to the attention of police a conversation I am alleged to have had in 1976, when I was a junior priest, that a now deceased priest had abused a child," he said.
"From the time this was first brought to my attention last year, I have completely denied the allegation. I intend to vigorously defend my innocence through the judicial system."
Wilson is the highest-ranking Catholic official to face charges of this nature, The Guardian reported. He's scheduled to appear in court April 30.
