AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail
AAP
Abuse victims hope Australia’s worst pedophile priest reveals what the Catholic Church knew about his offending when he appears before a royal commission.
Gerald Francis Ridsdale will give evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission’s Ballarat hearing for at least two days from Wednesday.
One of his victims, Stephen Woods, said it was important to hear from all sides to find out as much as possible about the institutional and systemic problems that facilitated the abuse.
“For a lot of people it will be very, very difficult, but this is a factor that has to be looked at,” Mr Woods told AAP.
Andrew Collins, who was abused by other clergy in the Ballarat diocese, said Ridsdale’s victims were positive about his appearance before the commission as they wanted the truth to come out.
“The church has traditionally covered everything up and I think if he will actually say what happened, that has the potential just to unlock a lot of those doors to get to those people who actually made those decisions,” Mr Collins told AAP.
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