AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au
[with video]
Cardinal George Pell disputes evidence of his closest advisers at the inquiry at the royal commission into child sex abuse
CARDINAL George Pell said he was not the kind of person who blamed others — but he was right and his closest advisers were wrong.
The former Sydney Archbishop said three senior members of the church and his private secretary were incorrect on eight occasions when they gave evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission on his involvement and knowledge of the controversial case of former altar boy John Ellis.
His personal secretary Dr Michael Casey, who worked with the Cardinal in Melbourne before moving with him to Sydney in 2001 when Cardinal Pell was appointed archbishop, was in that job until last week.
Counsel assisting the royal commission Gail Furness SC asked Cardinal Pell: “He would know your arrangements very well, would he not cardinal?”
The Cardinal replied: “Not. He is completely honest and completely reliable but he’s not the archbishop and he knows what he knows and there are some things he didn’t know.”
At times angry, Cardinal Pell accused one of his former right-hand men, Monsignor Brian Rayner, of giving “grotesque” evidence about him.
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