AUSTRALIA
ABC – The World Today
ELEANOR HALL: Just days before he leaves the country to take up a post at the Vatican, Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric today gave evidence before the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse.
The outgoing archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, appeared before the inquiry in Sydney to answer questions about how the archdiocese is handling the case of John Ellis.
Mr Ellis was abused by a priest in Western Sydney in the 1970s and took his complaint to the Church in 2002.
The case ended up before the courts when Mr Ellis rejected an offer of $30,000 and attempted to sue the Church.
The Church vigorously defended and defeated the claim and set a legal precedent that the Church could not be sued.
Our correspondent at the Royal Commission, Emily Bourke, is at the inquiry and joins us now.
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