George Pell Named in Anti-catholic Graffiti on Church and Royal Commission Building

ABC News
November 24, 2015

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-25/george-pell-named-in-anti-catholic-graffiti-on-church-buidling/6972196

PHOTO: Workers at the court tried to remove the graffiti and have erected black plastic to cover what remained. (ABC News: Danny Morgan)

Anti-Catholic graffiti relating to the church's handling of child sex abuse cases has been scrawled across a church building and a court in Melbourne.

Police said one of the abusive messages named the former Archbishop of Melbourne, Cardinal George Pell.

They were written on the Victorian County Court and a building belonging to the Melbourne Archdiocese.

Court workers tried to scrub off the graffiti this morning and have erected black plastic to cover what remains.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is using the County Court building to hold hearings into the way the Melbourne Archdiocese responded to child sexual abuse complaints.

There have been 450 sexual abuse claims or substantiated complaints against Archdiocese of Melbourne priests, employees or volunteers the inquiry was told on Tuesday.

More than 300 of the claims resulted in compensation payments to victims, with the church paying out nearly $17 million including treatment, legal and other costs, or an average of $52,000 per claimant.