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US bishop convicted over abuse

An American bishop has been handed a two-year suspended sentence for his failure to report allegations of sexual abuse by a priest in his diocese.

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri was sentenced after a brief non-jury trial yesterday, becoming the first US bishop to be convicted of a criminal offence for mishandling abuse complaints and the highest-ranking US cleric convicted in the Church's abuse scandal.

Judge John Torrence, a Circuit Court judge of Jackson County, Missouri, found the 59-year-old bishop guilty on one of two misdemeanour charges, acquitting him of another charge of failing to report.

Prosecutors dismissed two similar counts that had been pending against the diocese.

Before hearing his sentence, Finn told the judge, "I truly regret and am sorry for the hurt these events caused."

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