Pell has told the inquiry that the church made “enormous mistakes” and “catastrophic” choices by refusing to believe abused children, shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish and over-relying on counselling of priests to solve the problem.
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Cardinal Pell said while he had heard rumors of sexual abuses during his time in Ballarat, and later in Melbourne, he couldn’t recall substantive accusations, though he told the inquiry “my memory is sometimes fallible”.
Cardinal Pell, whose heart condition prevented him from returning to Australia for questioning, testified via videolink from a Rome hotel room, in front of a group of child sex abuse survivors who had travelled there from Ballarat.
On the eve of giving evidence, Cardinal Pell visited a quiet area of the Vatican Gardens, a grotto where a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes stands, to pray for the survivors of sexual abuse, and to tie a yellow ribbon supporting the Loud Fence campaign in support of victims.
He said Cardinal Pell responded that it could be discussed.
He called the congregation of at least five paedophile priests in Ballarat at the same time in the 1970s a “disastrous coincidence”, while admitting a boy complained to him in 1974 about Christian Brother Edward Dowlan.
What was most interesting about Dr Pell’s explanations is he also believes people kept him in the dark because they knew he would be outspoken and reject any attempts to move paedophile priests around parishes.
Pell again denied trying to buy the silence of Ridsdale’s nephew David, who was abused by his uncle.
Speaking via video link from a hotel in Rome, Dell insists church authorities deceived him, not once but twice over child abuse allegations against priests Gerald Ridsdale and Peter Searson.
Cardinal Pell and another priest lived in a presbytery with pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale in 1973. Yesterday Cardinal Pell in response to a request from survivors, arranged for a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to meet with survivors on Thursday morning.
The group has also sought an audience with the Pope but Mr Ridsdale said there was a lot of red tape involved and he expected to know more on Thursday.
They want a Papal commitment to protect children in the future.
“George is still defending the current model of the church, this model is a proven failure in protecting children against sexual abuse by their clergy”, Phil Nagle, one of the victims, told reporters in Rome on Wednesday night (Rome time).
The royal commission heard evidence the Curia did not act as a police investigation into the allegation was not proceeding. “They’ve shown that everybody has known George Pell has consistently pointed the blame elsewhere, has accused everyone of being a liar and deceit and if he is telling the truth that would make him an extraordinary ignorant man”.
News Corp Australia claims detectives from taskforce Sano have compiled a dossier containing allegations that Pell committed “multiple offenses” when he was a priest in Ballarat, a town in the state’s west, and also when he was working as the archbishop of Melbourne.
Counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness, SC, suggested “that it is implausible” that Pell did not know why it had become necessary for Ridsdale to be moved.
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“Words are one thing. There was no specifics about the activity, how serious it was and the boy wasn’t asking me to do anything about it but just lamenting and mentioning it”. Previous sessions have run from about 10 p.m.to 2 a.m.to accommodate the commission in Australia, which is 10 hours later than Rome. While some elements of the plan have been criticized, it was regarded as the first redress scheme for survivors of clerical sexual abuse of its kind in Australia.
