Pell Blames Inaction, Loose Entry Standards
Sydney Morning Herald
Cardinal George Pell has acknowledged that senior figures in the Australian Catholic Church covered up evidence about child abuse. Before the Victorian inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse, Cardinal Pell said the Catholic Church's history of child abuse stems from loose entry requirements for priests, past errors of judgement and inaction. Australia's most senior Catholic admitted that the fear of scandal had led to the cover-up of instances of abuse by some within the church but he denied that there was a culture of abuse among priests. He said his predecessar as Archbishop of Melborune, Sir Frank Little, was involved in a cover-up and he said that a former Ballarat archbishop had destroyed documents. He denied he personally covered up offending and he said he was ''fully apologetic and absolutely sorry'' for abuse by clergy. "No. Never," he told the inquiry.
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