BishopAccountability.org
	Abbott Defends "Honourable" Pell ABC News July 10, 2008 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/10/2299534.htm [with video and audio] Federal Liberal frontbencher Tony Abbott says the current scandal over the Catholic Church and Cardinal George Pell's handling of a sexual abuse case is "unfortunate". However Mr Abbott, who is one of Australia's most prominent Catholics and a friend of Cardinal Pell, says the Archbishop should be given credit for publicly accepting he made errors in a letter he wrote to victim Anthony Jones about a sexual assault by Father Terrence Goodall. Mr Abbott has told Newsradio that despite the mistake, he believes Cardinal Pell acted honourably. "There's been no question, as I understand it, of this man coming back into the ministry," he said. "Immediate action was taken against him, and I think Cardinal Pell has a pretty good record when it comes to making sure that there is no misbehaviour on the part of the priests of the archdiocese in which he's been in charge." ABC TV's Lateline program has aired a series of revelations over the past few nights, outlining contradictions and omissions in the way Cardinal Pell dealt with complaints from Mr Jones, a former religious education teacher. Cardinal Pell went against the advice of church investigators in dismissing the assertion that a sexual assault allegation against father Goodall should be sustained, and told Mr Jones in a letter that there had been no other complaints. This was untrue and Cardinal Pell wrote a letter on the same day to another man, acknowledging that there was another complaint. Last night Lateline revealed a recorded phone conversation in which Father Goodall, speaking to Mr Jones, refuted any suggestion that a sexual encounter between the two of them was consensual. This revelation throws further doubt over Cardinal Pell's decision to dismiss the claims of sexual assault.
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