Cardinal Pell will be called this week ...

By Janet Fife-Yeomans
Daily Telegraph
March 9, 2014

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/cardinal-pell-will-be-called-this-week-to-give-evidence-at-royal-commission-into-child-sex-abuse/story-fni0cx12-1226849604331

Australian Cardinal George Pell arrives for a meeting, at the Vatican.

Cardinal Pell will be called this week to give evidence at royal commission into child sex abuse

* Pell will be asked about ‘legal brick wall’ church use to protect itself against victims’ claims

THE nation’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, will be called this week to give evidence at the royal commission into child sex abuse about the legal brick wall the church used to protect itself against victims’ claims.

The Catholic Church is notorious for hiding behind what is known as the “Ellis defence’’, a NSW Court of Appeal ruling that means the church does not exist as a legal entity that is capable of being sued.

It is understood there has not been a single court judgment against the Catholic Church anywhere in Australia, although numerous cases have been settled out of court. The commission, sitting in Sydney, will investigate the case of ­former altar boy John Ellis who was sexually abused from the age of 14 by a priest in the Bass Hill parish in western Sydney in the 1970s.

Mr Ellis, now a solicitor, lost his case to sue Cardinal Pell, the former Archbishop of Sydney, and the Archdiocese of Sydney in the landmark ruling. The court ruled church trustees were liable for land and buildings but not for the behaviour of bishops they appointed.

The High Court refused Mr Ellis leave to appeal, but the church has since paid ­hundreds of thousands of ­dollars for his counselling.

Cardinal Pell, soon to take up his new appointment in one of the church’s most senior jobs in Rome, is being called as a witness because he was named as a defendant in the case. Victims of sexual abuse s as well as lawyers will watch the questioning of Cardinal Pell closely.

The commission is investigating the response of the church to Mr Ellis’ complaint and also to the church’s response to his civil legal claim.

The commission has already looked at the church’s Towards Healing process, designed to provide pastoral care to sex abuse victims but which witnesses have said had been overshadowed by the negotiation for compensation that involved lawyers and Catholic Church Insurance. Mr Ellis is scheduled to be up first and Cardinal Pell is expected to be called on Wednesday or Thursday.

Cardinal Pell’s new position — Prefect for the Economy for the Holy See and the Vatican — ranks with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, an Italian, second behind the Pope in the church’s hierarchy.