AUSTRALIA
The Age
Cardinal George Pell said this week he is prepared to return to Australia from the Vatican to give evidence in person to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, if he is officially requested to attend. This newspaper would be astounded were the royal commission not to make such a request, for Cardinal Pell’s testimony may be a pivotal part of this important inquiry into one of this nation’s darkest and most tragic chapters.
Cardinal Pell has had a distinguished career with the Catholic Church, including key leadership positions such as Archbishop of Sydney and Archbishop of Melbourne. He will have a crucial insight into its operations. Nor can he ignore the fact that his own time in Ballarat coincided with some of the worst abuses of children by other priests.
The royal commission this week held hearings in that city, and heard that Cardinal Pell once shared a home with other priests including one of the worst child sexual abusers in our history, Gerald Ridsdale. Indeed, Cardinal Pell gave public support to Ridsdale during a 1993 court appearance. Ridsdale, appearing via video link from jail, where he is serving a lengthy sentence for his appalling crimes, said that when he approached now-Cardinal Pell for that support, the church leader would have known the nature of the charges.
Counsel assisting the royal commission, Gail Furness, SC, described how the College of Consultors – a group of priests who advised Ballarat’s then bishop, Ronald Mulkearns – decided to move Ridsdale between parishes. Cardinal Pell was for a time a member of that group. He has repeatedly denied knowing children were abused in Ballarat when he was there, yet his recollections of the time, and knowledge of the processes of the church, will be important information for the commission.
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