An Australian bishop who resigned in 2021 appeared in court Monday after being charged with five more sexual offenses.
Bishop Christopher Saunders, the former Bishop of Broome, did not enter a plea to the new charges during his Dec. 23 appearance at Broome Magistrates Court. But his lawyer said he planned to plead not guilty at his next court appearance.
The new charges reportedly concern allegations of sexual assault against a 24-year-old man in 2016.
The 74-year-old bishop faces a total of 33 charges. Twenty-one charges relate to alleged assaults against three victims between 2008 and 2013. Saunders has pleaded not guilty to the 21 charges.
The bishop has not yet entered a plea to a further seven firearms charges, including illegal possession of a weapon.
Saunders is due to appear in court again Feb. 3.
The bishop was arrested in February of this year following a January police raid on his former residence in the Diocese of Broome, carried out by Child Abuse Squad detectives.
The bishop led the Broome diocese from 1996 until 2021, when he resigned citing “ill health,” amid allegations of sexual misconduct and grooming against young Aboriginal men.
His resignation followed a decision to step back from governance of the diocese in 2020, after accusations that he had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of Church funds on gifts for vulnerable young men, including cash, phones, alcohol, and travel.
The police investigation that led to the raid and the bishop’s arrest came after Church authorities handed over a 200-page investigation conducted into Saunders alleged misconduct, ordered by the Vatican in 2022, after a separate police probe had been closed the previous year due to lack of evidence.
In April, Saunders’ former secretary told The Pillar she had been ordered by the bishop to make “hush money” payments to the bishop’s alleged victims during her time working for him.
The Broome diocese covers the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of the sparsely populated state of Western Australia, serving around 15,000 Catholics out of a total population of 44,000 people.
Pope Francis appointed Bishop Timothy North, S.V.D., as the new Bishop of Broome Oct. 14.
At his Dec. 4 installation Mass, North said: “I am here for ministry with you, I’m here for healing if it’s needed and it may well be. I’m here for listening, I’m here for working, I’m here for praying and I’m here for having some fun with you as well.”
