AUSTRALIA
Business Insider
Cardinal George Pell Tells Royal Commission The Vatican Regarded Child Abuse Victims As ‘Enemies Of The Church’ – Like Nazis
SIMON THOMSEN
Cardinal George Pell has told the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse that the Vatican regarded anyone claiming they were abused by clergy as “enemies of the church”, whose actions were “as the Nazis had done, and the Communists”.
The former Archbishop of Sydney said Australia and the US were ahead of the Vatican in the 1990s when it came to facing the “challenge” of abuse.
“The attitude of some people in the Vatican is that if some people made accusations they were made by enemies of the church to make trouble and should therefore be dealt with sceptically,” he said during testimony this morning.
Cardinal Pell said that as a result, the Vatican’s “inclination” was “to give the benefit of the doubt to the defendant rather than listen seriously to the complaints”.
He said attitudes began to change after “good people who loved the Church” came forward “saying it was not done well enough”.
Cardinal Pell, 72, who leaves shortly for Rome and a new position as the Head of Vatican Finances, is appearing before the Royal Commission as it investigates the Catholic Church’s Towards Healing program to deal with the victims of sexual abuse by clergy.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.