Archbishop Fisher said the cardinal had a record of leadership in the fight against child sexual abuse and “the allegations aired on the ABC do not correspond with the George Pell I know”.
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Cardinal Pell is Australia’s most highly ranked Catholic figure, and works inside the Vatican where he acts as a key adviser to Pope Francis.
Similar claims have dogged the Australian prelate for years, but a royal commission investigating sexual abuse in Australia found no substantial evidence to confirm the charges.
Cardinal Pell, who was a priest in Ballarat in the 70s has denied the allegations, saying claims he has sexually abused anyone, at any place and at any time were “totally untrue and completely wrong”.
The program understands that the case against Cardinal Pell has been referred by Victoria Police to the Office of Public Prosecutions for advice.
At the same time, Pell accused ABC of running a “scandalous smear campaign” against him.
He called for an investigation into alleged leaks of information from Victoria Police to the ABC and whether there was a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Last month Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton confirmed child exploitation taskforce Sano is investigating the cardinal and that detectives would fly to Rome to interview Cardinal Pell if necessary.
Cardinal Pell will not be giving an interview to the ABC 7.30 Report.
The police investigation is part of a wider probe into complaints that emerge out of the royal commission.
It involves two teenage choirboys who asked their parents to leave the choir soon after the alleged abuse had occurred.
In a statement to an internal church inquiry headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Alec Southwell, the complainant alleged that on several occasions at a campsite on Phillip Island, the man known to him as “Big George” put his hands down his trousers and “got a good handful of his penis and testicles”.
“That slowly became hand down your trousers, or your bathers or whatever you call them. under the water”, Mr Monument said.
“The Cardinal does not wish to cause any distress to any victim of abuse”.
“If there was any credibility in any of these claims, they would have been pursued by the royal commission by now”, the statement said.
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The commission has spoken to nearly 5,000 survivors and heard harrowing allegations of child abuse involving places of worship, orphanages, community groups and schools.
