The 74-year-old served for decades a priest and then bishop in the Diocese of Broome, whose vast area covers the tropical north of Western Australia and includes remote aboriginal townships and communities in the Kimberley region.
After a long-running police investigation, Saunders faces multiple sexual assault charges, although his lawyer has strenuously denied them all.
Saunders was arrested on 21 February and released on bail.
At his first court appearance on 1 March, a judge lifted a suppression order to allow the publication of the charges against him.
He will face 26 charges including two counts of sexual penetration without consent, three counts of indecent dealings with a child and 14 counts of unlawful and indecent assault.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported the sexual assault charges relate to one complainant.
The court heard the alleged offences began in 2008 when the complainant was aged 16 or 17, and occurred at several different locations across the Kimberley over a period of five years.
Saunders was ordained a priest in Broome in 1976 and became bishop of the diocese in 1996. He often worked and preached in the region's remote Aboriginal communities.
In recent years, Bishop Saunders has been the subject of multiple police investigations, as well a separate canonical investigation undertaken by Church authorities.
He resigned from office as bishop in 2021 citing “ill health” amid allegations of sexual misconduct and grooming against young Aboriginal men.
Accusations surfaced that he had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of Church funds on gifts for vulnerable young men, including cash, phones, alcohol and travel.
In May 2021 police closed an investigation due to lack of evidence.