ROME
Bendigo Advertiser
By Melissa Cunningham in Rome
March 6, 2016
Cardinal George Pell says he grieves for Ballarat and prays daily for victims whose lives have been shattered by the Catholic Church’s scourge of sexual abuse.
In a his bid to try and set the record straight in his hometown, Australia’s most senior cleric spoke directly with The Courier in Rome on Saturday.
He accepted some victims may never be healed and others would never be willing to accept any help from an institution that failed to protect them.
During the rare interview, the Cardinal refused to answer questions relating directly to church’s handling of child sexual abuse allegations inflicted on children by clergy he work alongside for years.
“I spent nineteen and half hours refusing to defend the indefensible, I am not about to try and do that again,” he said.
“The Catholic Church has made enormous mistakes and I accept that.”
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