Andrew Bolt lashes out at Herald Sun reporter over George Pell story

By Amanda Meade
Guardian
February 21, 2016

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/22/andrew-bolt-lashes-out-at-herald-sun-reporter-over-george-pell-story

Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt, who calls himself a friend of Cardinal George Pell, said his paper’s report about the Vatican official ‘smells like an attempt to destroy a man without giving him a chance to defend himself’. Photo by Julian Smith

A Herald Sun report claiming Cardinal George Pell is being investigated by police over child abuse allegations has sparked angry words between the paper’s top columnist Andrew Bolt and the reporter behind the exclusive story.Bolt, who calls himself a friend of the Vatican official, labelled Lucie Morris-Marr’s report that police were investigating allegations of sexual abuse by Pell a week before he was due to appear before the royal commission a vicious and shameful smear which was part of a “sinister” campaign to destroy the cardinal.

But Morris-Marr, a senior writer on the Herald Sun, defended her story, saying it was not the result of leaks or a smear campaign but grew out of an old-fashioned investigation.

Pell has strongly denied allegations of involvement in child sexual abuse, saying they are without foundation and utterly false.

In his column in Monday’s paper Bolt said the Pell report published in the Herald Sun on Saturday was worse than “vicious and shameful” and the leak to the paper “stinks”.

“It smells like an attempt to destroy a man without giving him a chance to defend himself,” Bolt said.

“Now the campaign to destroy Pell has become sinister as well, after it was joined by – in my view – elements of Victoria Police.”

Morris-Marr responded to Bolt on Twitter, saying he was wrong to call it a leak from police and it was “utter rubbish” to say her report was a part of a witch hunt. Bolt was a “friend” of Pell, she pointed out.

The Herald Sun, published by News Corp Australia, published a front-page report on Saturday claiming Victoria police detectives from taskforce Sano had compiled a dossier containing allegations that Pell committed “multiple offences” over four decades.

The story had to be published online on Friday evening after Pell issued a statement to all media in response to questions from the Herald Sun.

Morris-Marr’s report detailed the allegations against the 74-year-old, who is now in charge of finances at the Vatican in Rome, and the story was widely reported in other outlets.

“Legal sources have told the Herald Sun that more than a dozen detectives from Sano taskforce – set up to probe allegations arising from the child abuse royal commission – have worked for the past year on the investigation, interviewing ‘numerous’ alleged victims,” the paper reported.

A spokesman from the Vatican in Rome told Guardian Australia on Friday night the allegations were clearly designed to do maximum damage to the cardinal and the Catholic church and undermine the work of the royal commission.

On Saturday the Melbourne archbishop, Denis Hart, who succeeded Pell in the role in 2001, said the allegations “do not reflect the man I have known for more than 50 years”.

“It is very disturbing and concerning to read reports based on leaks to the media that Victoria police has been investigating allegations of abuse against Cardinal George Pell for the past year and that his first knowledge of these allegations has come from those media reports,” Hart said.

Bolt was not alone in supporting Pell. The Australian also defended the cardinal and called the allegations against him published in its sister paper “curious”.

“It remains to be seen what, if anything, emerges from a reported Victoria police investigation into allegations against the cardinal himself,” the Australian’s editorial said on Monday.

“It is curious, to say the least, that after his many decades in the public eye, such claims against the cardinal have only emerged now.”

In a column published in the Australian before the recent allegations were reported, conservative columnist Gerard Henderson said Pell was being subjected to a lynch-mob that had not been seen in Australia for a century.

“It’s about a century since Australia experienced a lynch-mob mentality of the kind that has pervaded the debate over Cardinal George Pell’s forthcoming appearance at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse,” Henderson said.