Accused priest hospitalised in PNG
An Australian priest has been hospitalised in Papua New Guinea after it emerged he was preparing to return to Australia amid child abuse allegations.
Father Roger Mount was expected to arrive in Port Moresby on Thursday, from where he would make the journey back to Australia.
However, the plans were derailed after he was admitted to Port Moresby General Hospital.
AAP has been told he took an excess of anti-malaria medication.
The hospital confirmed the Catholic priest was in the accident and emergency department.
It is understood on Thursday night he was sitting upright and conversing with staff and visitors but would be kept in hospital for observation.
Fr Mount has been accused of abusing boys in his care at St John of God institutions in Australia in the 1960s, Fairfax Media reported this week.
He was known as Brother Gabriel Mount at the time.
A former resident of the Kendall Grange home in NSW alleges that Fr Mount abused him when he was 12 years old, Fairfax reports.
Fr Mount denies the allegations.
Fr Mount has been living in PNG for 30 years but his visa is reportedly expired.
He was stood down from his role as parish priest in the highlands village of Sogeri but previously refused to leave.
Port Moresby diocese vicar-general Father Ben Fleming said Fr Mount continued to say mass every Sunday and hadn't responded to requests from the archbishop of Port Moresby until now.
"He has responded because he has been told: `this time you are damaging us'," he told AAP on Wednesday.
Fr Fleming said Fr Mount was not in good health but had accepted the prospect of returning to Australia.
"The prospect, I think, of having to go back to Australia and start a new life has been difficult for him to accept," he said.
The diocese also had to speak to PNG immigration officials about a fine to be paid for Fr Mount overstaying his visa.
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