AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
March 25, 2014
Catherine Armitage
Senior Writer
The federal government should set up an independent body to assess what damages should be paid to child sex abuse victims and priests should be insured against being sued for sexual abuse, Cardinal George Pell has told the royal commission on child sexual abuse.
The Church’s Towards Healing protocol for dealing with sex abuse victims failed to meet the church’s moral responsibility towards victims, and so did the Melbourne Response he set up, Cardinal Pell admitted under questioning from the royal commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan.
The Cardinal expressed concern the church was held to a higher standard of accountability for sex abuse than other institutions or individuals, such as sporting groups and Scouts. He said there were ‘‘exact parallels’’ with sporting groups, rugby league clubs, the Scouts and other institutions.
”We have Cardinal Pell, whose evidence will continue on Wednesday, admitted to multiple failings in handling the case of John Ellis who was a 13-year-old altar boy when Father Aidan Duggan of Bass Hill parish began sexually abusing him. But he said those closest to him – the archdiocesan chancellor, his private secretary and the director of the Office of Professional Standards which handled Towards Healing complaints – erred in saying he was consulted on reparations payments to be made to victims under Towards Healing.
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