Graeme Sleeman says he wrote to Cardinal Pell, then the Melbourne archbishop, about a decade after he resigned as principal of Doveton's Holy Family Primary School in 1986 in frustration that nothing was done about parish priest Peter Searson.

"I put my career on the line". In testimony for the Royal Commission's investigation, witnesses have charged that the cardinal was aware of a widespread abuse and even that he attempted to secure a victim's silence by offering a bribe.

Then the archbishop ended the call.

Mr Sleeman agreed with Cardinal Pell's barrister Sam Duggan that the archbishop first said "I can't do that".

Graffiti calling for Cardinal George Pell to be jailed has appeared on a building in Melbourne.

Lawyers for a senior catholic cardinal will cross-examine victims of child sexual abuse to protect his reputation amid allegations a Royal Commission is investigating unsubstantiated claims.

Court workers tried to scrub off the graffiti this morning and have erected black plastic to cover what remains. But no evidence has been produced to back these charges, which Cardinal Pell has firmly denied.

More graffiti on the Catholic Archdiocese building in Melbourne.

The hearing on Tuesday heard the Catholic Church has paid 12.8 million Australian dollars (9.20 million USA dollars) in response to 454 complaints against priests and other personnel in the archdiocese since 1980, with the bulk related to abuse between the 1950s and 1989.