Terminally ill former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns will be recalled by the child abuse royal commission in the days after Cardinal George Pell described his cover up of abuse as "grave and inexplicable".
Bishop Mulkearns, now 85, in February expressed his profound sorrow at his handling of offending clergy.
Between 1971 and 1997 he presided over decisions to move priests, including Gerald Ridsdale, between parishes rather than deal with child sexual abuse allegations.
The royal commission confirmed on Wednesday that Bishop Mulkearns would be recalled to give evidence.
It is expected he may re-appear in the coming days, after the commission also confirmed the cardinal would complete his evidence on Thursday.
Cardinal Pell, in his second day of evidence on Tuesday, laid the blame on his former mentor Bishop Mulkearns for decades of cover-ups which put hundreds of children at risk from Ridsdale.
Ridsdale is serving 24 years in jail after being convicted of 138 counts of indecent assault and abuse.
Cardinal Pell said the bishop deceived and lied to him, and described his actions as "reprehensible".
"His repeated refusal to act is, I think, absolutely extraordinary," he said.
But Ridsdale's nephew, one of his victims, David Ridsdale, said that in blaming Bishop Mulkearns, Cardinal Pell had thrown "a whole bunch of people under a bus".
Bishop Mulkearns appeared via videolink to the commission last week, and is expected to do so again.
He is terminally ill with cancer and living in a nursing home.
A medical report provided to the commission stipulates that he can only give evidence for 90 minutes at a time and requires several days to recover between questioning.
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