Cardinal George Pell Admits Mistakes Made, but Denies Culture of Abuse in Church

By Genevieve Gannon
NEWS.com.au
May 28, 2013

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/nsw-act/cardinal-george-pell-admits-mistakes-made-but-denies-culture-of-abuse-in-church/story-fnii5s3x-1226651702086

Cardinal George Pell / Pic: Stuart McEvoy

AUSTRALIA'S most senior Catholic has apologised for sex crimes committed by clergy but said he did not believe there had been a culture of abuse.

"I'm fully apologetic and absolutely sorry," Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse yesterday.

"I think the bigger fault was that nobody would talk about it, nobody would mention it.

"I was certainly unaware of it.

"I don't think many, if any, persons in the leadership of the Catholic church knew what a horrendous widespread mess we were sitting on."

He agreed placing paedophiles above the law and moving them to other parishes resulted in more heinous crimes being committed.

"There's no doubt about that. Lives have been blighted. There's no doubt these crimes have contributed to too many suicides," he said.

Cardinal Pell agreed under questioning that the fear of scandal led to a cover-up.

"The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church," he said.

"There was a fear of scandal."

Despite the apology and admission of cover-ups, Cardinal Pell did not think the Australian church had a moral obligation to match the billions paid out to clergy sex abuse victims in the US.

The parliamentary committee put to Cardinal Pell that compensation paid by the church in Australia - a maximum of $75,000 - was "a pittance" compared with US payouts, totalling $3.3 billion over the past 15 years.

He admitted it was low compared with the US but said it would compare favourably with other parts of the world.

The inquiry has heard the Catholic church is Australia's biggest private property owner and non-government employer and owns a $30 million property in Rome.

Committee member Andrea Coote put it to Cardinal Pell that perhaps the church could sell its "splendid palace".

The cost of the Rome property could have been enough to provide $75,000 - the cap the church places on compensation - to 400 victims, she said.

Cardinal Pell said the Rome property was a hostel and an investment and said: "We don't need to sell our investments to pay our damages."

Cardinal Pell's explanations did little to comfort child sex abuse victim and former deputy Mayor of Campbelltown John Hennessey.

Calling on Cardinal Pell to stand down until the inquiry was over, the Ingleburn man said he was sexually abused on three separate occasions and raped once by the same priest during his time at a WA orphanage in 1960s.

"There was not a tear in his eyes while he was talking about the abused children and people who committed suicide,'' he said of Cardinal Pell.

He accused him of arrogance and lacking compassion for the church's victims, "whose lives have been wrecked''.

Victims of clergy sexual abuse say the Catholic Church must change and end an era of cover-ups and unaccountability.

Hundreds of victims and their supporters attended the hearing, with many queueing for several hours to hear the cardinal's evidence.

Some victims protested outside, holding banners that urged Cardinal Pell to tell the truth.

There were angry scenes before the hearing when it appeared space would not be able to be found for people in an overflow room, but they were all accommodated.

After enduring more than four hours of Cardinal Pell's testimony, victims were less than impressed with what he said.

Stephen Woods, who was abused by a pedophile priest, said there must be change in the church beginning with the resignation of Cardinal Pell.

"I would really love to see someone come up who is very young and is absolutely willing to change the system,'' Mr Woods said.

"Unfortunately it is like trying to change a massive ship in the middle of a storm. It is very difficult to change the direction.

"You are trying to change a major institution in society.

''(Cardinal Pell) needs to resign. His era is finished.''

But Anthony Foster, whose two daughters were abused by a pedophile priest, says it would be too easy for Cardinal Pell to resign now and he must stay on and help victims.