Cardinal Pell testifies before Royal Commission

Vatican Radio
March 26, 2014

http://en.radiovaticana.va/articolo.asp?c=785022

(Vatican Radio) Cardinal George Pell on Wednesday testified before an Australian commission on child sexual abuse, and said Church institutions did not deal fairly, from “a Christian point of view,” in dealing with a sexual abuse victim.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been working in Australia since last year to examine the history of abuse in educational institutions, religious groups, sporting organizations, state institutions and youth organizations. The Commission has been for the past two weeks looking at Case Study #8, which deals with the case of John Ellis, who was abused in the 1970’s by Father Aidan Duggan.

Cardinal George Pell testified before the Commission for a second day on Wednesday. He said, under the advice of his lawyers, he endorsed a decision not to enter mediation when the legal action in 2004, but now says that was a mistake.

“From a Christian point of view, leaving aside the legal dimension, I don’t think that we did deal fairly [with Mr. Ellis],” he said.

The former archbishop of Sydney has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse he had been concerned by court decisions in the United States that had sent some dioceses into bankruptcy, a situation he wanted to prevent in Australia.