Bishop accused of aiding alleged paedophile resigns

POPE Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of a US bishop accused of allowing an alleged paedophile priest from his diocese to flee to Mexico before alerting police to the situation.

Bishop Daniel Walsh of the diocese of Santa Rosa in California resigned under an article in Catholic Church law invoking a “grave cause”, which can include a failure by the prelate in question to denounce a case of paedophilia.

Walsh, 74, is one year younger than the minimum retirement age for bishops.

Last year, Pope Benedict called for a zero tolerance approach to child abuse by clergymen and appealed to bishops to work together with local law enforcement.

His strict stance follows thousands of paedophile scandals across Europe and the US in recent years which have dogged the Catholic Church.

Fr Xavier Ochoa admitted to the bishop in April 2006 that he had abused young boys, but the police were only told three days later by a diocesan lawyer.

By that time, Ochoa had fled to Mexico where he is still at large.

The diocese was ordered to pay $5 million (€3.5m) to the three victims, as well as $20,000 from Walsh personally.

The alleged acts committed by Ochoa include rape and forced oral sex.