AUSTRALIA
9 News
AAP
Cardinal George Pell has been described as a lightning rod for outrage and his third time before the child abuse royal commission will be no different.
Cardinal Pell, now the Vatican’s financial chief, will return from Rome next month to give evidence to the commission’s resumed inquiry into widespread abuse in the Ballarat diocese and to answer what he knew about offenders in the Melbourne archdiocese.
The former Ballarat priest’s decision to hire lawyers to question abuse survivors, when the Catholic Church won’t, has already attracted outrage despite both victims being willing to be cross-examined.
Another Ballarat victim, Stephen Woods, said Cardinal Pell returning as a witness was a step in the right direction but he would also put victims who had given sworn evidence in trials and to the commission through more trauma.
“He’s never been in a situation where his whole life was traumatised,” Mr Woods said.
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