ROME
Sydney Morning Herald
March 3, 2016
Andrew P Street
Writer
Pell in a Handbasket
Cardinal George Pell has wrapped up his testimony into the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and it’s fair to say that he’s not exactly distinguished himself.
Among his testimonial highlights was admitting that he’d heard rumours that children were being raped by priest Gerald Ridsdale, but that “was a sad story and wasn’t of much interest to me,” as he memorably put in on Tuesday.
His marvellously selective memory had forgotten this quote a day later, when he railed against lawyer Jim Shaw for repeating the quote to him.
“I said nothing of the kind,” Pell angrily responded to his exact words, “as I have endeavoured to explain this evening.”
Shaw, oddly, begged to differ: “I’m quoting you from the transcript, Cardinal.”
Pell wasn’t having a bar of it: “I would like you to do so.”
Shaw obliged: “I just did. ‘A sad story and it wasn’t of much interest to me.'”
Pell: “That’s a selective quotation.”
In Georgie’s defence, how is he supposed to remember things he said on camera, under oath, during a Royal Commission, a matter of hours earlier?
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