LONDON - The head of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales says he made a mistake in allowing a pedophile priest to continue to serve, but in a letter published Thursday in The Times he denied ignoring other cases or authorizing payment of "hush money" to victims.
The letter from Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was published on the same day that the priest, Michael Hill, was due for sentencing after admitting to indecently assaulting three boys aged between 10 and 14.
Murphy-O'Connor, formerly the bishop of Arundel and Brighton, appointed Hill as Catholic chaplain at Gatwick airport despite knowing of allegations against him.
"My decision to appoint Michael Hill to the chaplaincy at Gatwick airport, after receiving conflicting psychiatric reports regarding his condition, was a mistake. I acknowledged that two years ago. I do so again," Murphy-O'Connor wrote.
However, he denied that there was an attempt to cover up other cases.
"To the best of my knowledge every other allegation made against a priest in my time at Arundel and Brighton was reported to, or investigated by, either the social services, or the police, or both," he wrote.
Under guidelines adopted by the church last year, Murphy-O'Connor said any priest who faced well-founded allegations of sex abuse would be removed from active ministry.
"This was not the case in the 1980s when ... appropriate measures for dealing with pedophilia had not been in any way adequately developed, either in civil society or the church," he said.
He denied any payment of "hush money" to prevent victims from publicizing their complaints.
"Victims of abuse, whether or not their case is pursued by the police through to prosecution, and whether or not they have been abused within the church or society as a whole, are, and have always been, free to seek compensation," the cardinal wrote, adding that those negotiations are handled by lawyers.
Hill, 68, was jailed for five years in 1997 for sex offenses against boys, and was released on parole in 2000.
On Monday, Hill pleaded guilty to six more charges of indecent assault against boys aged 10 to 14 between 1969 and 1987.
Murphy-O'Connor had allowed Hill to take up the Gatwick job in 1985.