AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail
Cardinal George Pell stonily impassive giving testimony at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse
SUE WIGHTON THE COURIER-MAIL JUNE 03, 2013
I WATCHED most of Cardinal George Pell’s evidence to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry last week about child sexual abuse by members of the clergy and its subsequent cover-up by the church.
I didn’t mean to watch the whole thing, but I was transfixed.
I was struck by Pell’s seeming lack of emotional engagement during his testimony. He sat stonily impassive in the face of stringent questioning by the panel members. His tone was largely defensive and even combative at times.
Although there was a reluctant and measured intellectual response from Australia’s most senior Catholic, the man seemed unable to show visible empathy or any true emotion for the victims, mostly innocent children.
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