Australian governor-general Peter Hollingworth, formerly the Anglican archbishop of Brisbane, resigned May 25 amid criticism surrounding a rape claim and his handling of child sex abuse cases when he was archbishop.

Although a court dismissed a suit claiming he raped a woman 40 years ago, Mr. Hollingworth, 68, said the controversy was undermining confidence in the governor-general?s office. He called the allegations "misplaced and unwarranted."

However, he had previously admitted "errors in judgment" for allowing a sex abuser to continue functioning as a priest in the 1990s when he was archbishop.

"In public life in living memory, no person has paid a higher price for that error of judgment," Prime Minister John Howard told the Australian parliament.