ROME
ABC News
For four days, the child abuse royal commission has forensically questioned Cardinal George Pell over his knowledge of alleged abuse within Australia’s Catholic Church.
Abuse survivors and their supporters watched on as evidence was extracted from Australia’s most senior Catholic — some of it, they said, “beggared belief”.
Here are some of the key moments in his testimony and the reactions it drew.
Day one:
* Cardinal Pell said the church made ‘enormous mistakes’
* He said the ‘predisposition was not to believe’ children’s claims of abuse
* Cardinal Pell said the instinct was to protect the church
He was questioned specifically on two case studies — number 28 about the Diocese of Ballarat and number 35 about the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
These case studies included complaints about Monsignor John Day, Brother Gerald Leo Fitzgerald and Gerald Ridsdale.
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