Victims of clergy abuse have said they are "disappointed" over pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale's lack of memory of key details on who in the Catholic Church knew about his abusing.

Today, Ridsdale told the Royal Commission he was "out of control" abusing children, and admitted he did not tell anyone for fears of being defrocked.

Appearing today before the commission's Ballarat hearing into institutional responses to child sex abuse via videolink from jail, Ridsdale has repeatedly referred to the prosecutor's notes and has struggled to remember much of his previous testimony and the circumstances of his offending, including the names of some of his many victims.

Clergy abuse victim Andrew Collins spoke outside court and said victims are bitterly disappointed Ridsdale did not reveal who in the church hierarchy knew about his offending and moved him to other parishes.

"A couple of them have walked out and said there's just nothing happening. They're disappointed," he said.

Lawyer and Monash University doctoral researcher Judy Courtin said Ridsdale's selective memory was just not credible.

"Whenever it comes to talking about anyone in the hierarchy he has no memory of it at all," she said.

"It is like a final kick in the guts, a twist of the knife, for survivors and their families. It's so bad.

"He's got nothing to lose, why doesn't he just fess up and tell the truth?"

It comes as Cardinal George Pell has acquiesced to requests from victims and politicians to appear before the commission's latest hearings, if called upon.

Ridsdale has been convicted of offences against more than 50 victims.

"I was out of control, really out of control in those years," Ridsdale said of his time at Inglewood parish.

He said he did not confess to anyone that he was abusing children when he was ordained in 1961.

"I didn't confess the sexual offending against children," he said.

"I never told anyone. It's not the sort of thing I wouldn't tell anyone."

The parents of a boy Ridsdale abused in his first year after being ordained as a priest in 1961 complained to then Ballarat Bishop James O'Collins.

Ridsdale told a Catholic Church Insurances investigator in 1994 that Bishop O'Collins told him, "If this thing happens again then you're off to the missions".

Ridsdale said that would have meant he would lose his priesthood or be removed from parish work.

"I would have lost faith in myself because I was a very proud person. It just would have been devastating."

When asked whether he knew at the time of his offending that he was hurting the children, he said, "I'm not sure".

Ridsdale told lawyers for the Catholic Church's investigators in 1994, after his first conviction for abusing children, that a Christian Brother touched him when he was 11 or 12, but he now says he can't remember it.
 

The 81-year-old told the commission today that he has no recollection of that or two separate incidents of a separate nature involving relatives but accepts it did happen.

"I don't remember it now, but I accept that the memory was there when I made this statement," Ridsdale said.

"I've got no clear picture of those now, if you know what I mean."

Ridsdale's nephew David has recounted his own abuse at the hands of his uncle, and said when he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 he was offered a bribe to stay silent.

Cardinal Pell has denied the claim.

Another of Ridsdale's victims, Stephen Woods, has given harrowing evidence to the commission and says the Cardinal's written statement of repeated denials is not enough.

"He should have been here and he should be held accountable," Mr Woods told reporters outside court.

"It was a coward's way out to make a statement in the media that can't be cross examined," Mr Collins said.

Cardinal George Pell has since told the chair of the commission he is prepared to give evidence in person.

"Without wanting to pre-empt the Royal Commission in any way - you can't just invite yourself to give evidence - I want to make it absolutely clear that I am willing to give evidence should the commission request this, be it by statement, appearance by video link, or by attending personally," he said in the letter to Justice Peter McClellan last night.

He also said he'd been horrified by the allegations of abuse in Ballarat and was saddened by the way church authorities dealt with reports of abuse.

"Like everyone else I am horrified by the accounts that survivors have given in their evidence during the Ballarat hearings, and at the enormous impact the abuse had had on them, their families and the community.

"I am also deeply saddened by the way Church authorities have failed in responding to these crimes.

"So far I have no been asked to give evidence in any form, but as I have said repeatedly, I am deeply committed to assisting the Royal Commission and to doing anything I can to help survivors."

Opposition leader Bill Shorten last week called on Cardinal Pell to come home to Australia and face allegations he protected a paedophile priest and tried to pay a victim "hush money".

"I do believe that George Pell should help the royal commission and if that means coming back to Australia to co-operate with the royal commission he should," Mr Shorten told reporters.

Commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan has said he would consider the allegations and whether Cardinal Pell should return to defend himself against the claims.

Cardinal Pell said he stood by previous statements given to the Victorian inquiry in 2013, insistiing he never offered a bribe to an abuse victim and claimed to have no recollection of being told about abuse by a pedophile priest.

He remained adamant he had nothing to do with transferring another abusive member of the clergy.

Lawyer Professor Greg Craven defended his friend George Pell yesterday.

"It's not a case of calling a victim a liar, it's a case of the Cardinal telling the truth as he understands it," he said.

Lawyers for Cardinal Pell have said they would not cross-examine survivor witnesses out of respect, but his legal team said if the Cardinal was requested to make a formal statement to the Royal Commission to address the allegations of a cover-up, one or more witnesses may be recalled for questioning.