Pell to be at 'confronting' abuse inquiry

NT News
October 20, 2015

http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/national/pell-gives-commission-evidence-in-december/story-fnjbnvyj-1227575615972

THE Catholic Church's handling of two decades of abuse by pedophile priests in a Melbourne parish will be the focus of a royal commission hearing featuring Cardinal George Pell.

CARDINAL Pell, now the Vatican's finance chief, will give evidence to the commission's public hearing into the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne's response to child abuse as well as its continuing inquiry into widespread abuse by clergy in the Ballarat diocese.

The month-long hearings will begin on November 24 in Melbourne and Cardinal Pell is expected to give evidence during the sitting's final week, which will be from December 14 to 18, the royal commission said on Tuesday. The former Melbourne and Sydney archbishop and Ballarat priest has already appeared twice before the child abuse royal commission on other issues. Cardinal Pell came under fire following claims again aired during the first stage of the Ballarat hearing in May that he tried to bribe one abuse victim to keep quiet, ignored complaints and was complicit in moving Australia's worst pedophile priest, Gerald Francis Ridsdale, to a different parish. Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied the claims.

The Melbourne archdiocese inquiry will focus on child sexual abuse tied to the Holy Family Parish and Holy Family Primary School in the southeastern suburb of Doveton. It will also look at the archdiocese's handling of child sex abuse allegations against other Catholic clergy, including Father Wilfred Baker, Fr David Daniel, Fr Nazareno Fasciale, Fr Desmond Gannon, Fr Paul Pavlou and Fr Ronald Pickering, the commission said. The chief executive of the church's Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan, has described the Doveton abuse as horrendous and a very confronting story. A string of priests who were either convicted or charged with child abuse worked in the Doveton parish and area for more than 20 years until the late 1990s, Mr Sullivan said after the combined public hearing was first announced last month.