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	Pell Vows Action on Abuse SBS May 21, 2009 http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1018666/Pell-vows-action-on-abuse [with video] Australia's top Catholic cleric has vowed to closely examine and act on any links between the country's clergy and "grim" sexual abuse allegations contained in a major new report from Ireland. Cardinal George Pell said he was deeply moved by the brutality and cruelty catalogued in the 2,500-page report on "endemic" mistreatment in church-run institutions dating back to the 1930s. "It is grim reading," said Pell. "The only way forward is to acknowledge the wrongs that have been, to institute just procedures to process the complaints (and) to offer help to healing and compensation." Pell said the Irish report would be thoroughly examined for any links to clergy or members of religious orders in Australia. "And whatever needs to be done in the Sydney archdiocese, and indeed more widely in Australia, will be done to bring justice to victims," he said. More than 100 Catholic priests and religious brothers have been sentenced in Australian courts in the last 20 years on sex charges, according to the Broken Rites victims' support group. In 2000, the country's bishops formally apologised for past abuses. The issue came to prominence last year when Pope Benedict XVI met with abuse victims in Sydney during the World Youth Day festival. Pell said Australia's Catholic church would continue to accept its responsibilities toward abuse victims and encouraged anyone with complaints to come forward.
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