BishopAccountability.org

Priest denies Cardinal George Pell spoke about Ridsdale abuse

By Padraic Murphy
Herald Sun
December 9, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/zubgf38

Cardinal George Pell at St Peter's basilica in Vatican.
Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO

Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale gives evidence to the Royal Commission in May.

A PRIEST named as party to a conversation in which Cardinal George Pell allegedly said paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale had been abusing boys flatly denies the conversation ever took place.

Earlier this week secret witness BWE told the Child Abuse Royal Commission that in 1983 he overheard Cardinal Pell making the comment to Father Frank Madden at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat a decade before Ridsdale was first charged.

“George Pell (said) ..., ‘I think Gerry’s been r — ting boys again’,” BWE said.

But Father Madden today flatly denied the claim saying he had never performed a funeral mass with Pell, where BWE claimed the conversation took place.

"I find that totally improbable," Father Madden said.

Asked if he ever heard Cardinal Pell say such a thing, Father Madden replied: "Absolutely not."

Later in the day Ballarat's Father Eric Bryant said he believed paedophiles were attracted to the priesthood because it was a vocation in which they could hide.

"I would say a lot of people want to go in to the priesthood for the wrong reasons," Father Bryant said.

"I still think it can be a hiding place for people like paedophiles."

The hearing continues.




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