Sexual Abuse: The Cardinal Pell Evidence
Cardinal Pell has finally appeared before the Royal Commission from Rome to respond to allegations of mishandling complaints about child sexual abuse against Catholic Church members in Melbourne
The public hearing of the Royal Commission into the response of the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat and other Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat regarding allegations of child sexual abuse against clergy or religious members has been underway since 22 February 2016.
According to the Royal Commission Cardinal George Pell was a priest in Ballarat and for a time was one of the consultors to the Bishop of the Ballarat Diocese from 1971 to 1997, Bishop Mulkearns. In that role, Pell had responsibilities to give advice to the Bishop about the appointments of priests to particular parishes and also to advise on other matters more generally relating to the administration of the Diocese.
The Catholic Diocese of Ballarat is responsible for the sexual abuse of hundreds of children.
Pell was a consultor at a time when some of the priests who offended against children were serving in the Ballarat Diocese and was present at meetings where the appointment of priests, including at least one who is a known offender, were considered.
Bishop Mulkearnshas been accused of covering up horrific cases of child abuse, destroying documents and refusing to report the paedophiles in his Diocese.
Like so many other administrators of institutions, he shuffled priests between parishes where they continued to sexually abuse other children. This includes moving one of the worst abusers, Gerald Ridsdale, from parish to parish, leaving victims in his wake.
The Royal Commission has heard that Bishop Mulkearns was aware of Ridsdale sexually abusing children but continued to move him around Victorian parishes. Gerald Ridsdale has since been convicted of 138 sex offences against 53 victims.
Pell also had a position as Auxiliary Bishop in the Melbourne Archdiocese in 1987. He continued in that role until 1996 when he was appointed the Archbishop of Melbourne.
Due toPell’s pivotal role in both Ballarat and Melbourne, the Commissioners considered it essential that Cardinal Pell give evidence and explain his actions during relevant periods. As Cardinal Pell advised the Commission that he was too ill to make the journey to Sydney, the testimony was arranged to be done by video link.
The Royal Commission has now heard evidence from Pell by video link from the Hotel Quirinale in Rome as part of its public hearings into Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat and the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. Needless to say the eyes of the world have been upon Cardinal Pell, with the press having a large presence during the hearing.
When survivors then realised that the Cardinal would not be coming to face his accusers in person, a group of 15 Melbourne clerical sexual abuse survivors and supporters flew to Rome to hear his evidence in person at the Hotel in Rome. Due in no small part to the widely heard song penned by well known comic and composer Tim Minchin, the funds were raised through crowd funding to enable them to travel to Rome. Some of the supporters who travelled to Rome included parents of two child sexual abuse victims who were sexually abused when they were 5 years old. Their family has been shattered as a result of the abuse of two of their three daughters. One daughter committed suicide in 2007 and the other is disabled after a motor vehicle accident.
Pell is currently the head of the Secretariat of the Economy for the Vatican, making him the third most powerful member of the Catholic Church bureaucracy.
For more details about the hearing and Cardinal Pell’s involvement with the Royal Commission, please see their website:
https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au
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