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Child sex abuse survivors to travel to Rome to sit in the same room as Cardinal George Pell as he gives evidence to the royal commission via video link

By Isabel Hunter
Daily Mail
February 22, 2016

http://tinyurl.com/hceva5s

Child abuse survivors will be able to witness Cardinal George Pell (pictured) give evidence from a hotel in Rome next week via video-link

David Ridsdale (pictured), a victim and nephew of Australia's worst pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale, said Cardinal Pell's evidence was important given his position as Australia's highest ranking Catholic

Ballarat victim Andrew Collins (pictured) said it was important Cardinal Pell's testimony was given under the same conditions as survivors - in a public forum rather than sitting in a room by himself

'(Pell) has had an integral part in all of these affairs, he has been around and involved so he has plenty to offer from that point of view,' Mr Ridsdale (pictured) said

No charges have been filed and he has not been officially named as the target of an investigation by Victoria Police

[with video]

Child sex abuse survivors will be able to sit in the same room as Cardinal George Pell as he gives evidence to the royal commission via video link from a hotel in Rome.

Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan ruled the request from survivors and anti-child abuse advocates was 'reasonable', clearing the way for them to make the trip and to watch Cardinal Pell's testimony.

'The royal commission has received requests from some survivors that they be able to be present in the room where Cardinal Pell give evidence in Rome next week,' Justice McClellan said before delivering the opening address at commission's third stage of hearings in Ballarat, Victoria, on Monday.

'The commission considers that to be a reasonable request. With the assistance of the Australian embassy in Rome we have located a room in a hotel in central Rome which I am advised has the technical facilities to ensure an effective signal to Australia.'

Mr McClellan made his announcement as the third stage of hearings into abuse that occurred within the Diocese of Ballarat got underway in the regional Victorian town on Monday. 

Ballarat victim Andrew Collins said it was important Cardinal Pell's testimony was given under the same conditions as survivors - in a public forum rather than sitting in a room by himself.

'It's also very important for our healing as well to be a part of that,' Mr Collins said.

A crowdfunding campaign has raised more than $200,000 to send the group of survivors and their support personnel to Rome, with about 15 people currently expected to make the trip.

David Ridsdale, a victim and nephew of Australia's worst pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale, said Cardinal Pell's evidence was important given his position as Australia's highest ranking Catholic.

'He has had an integral part in all of these affairs, he has been around and involved so he has plenty to offer from that point of view,' Mr Ridsdale said.

It comes after the Cardinal repeated his insistence that he would 'of course cooperate' with Victoria Police's investigation into allegations that he sexually abused between five and ten boys earlier.

The Cardinal and top aide to Pope Francis has rejected the allegations as 'utterly false' and said that he has still not been contacted by police on the matter, speaking to Daily Mail Australia on Sunday.

He is the subject of a year-long investigation by Victoria Police for the alleged sexual abuse of up to ten minors from 1978 to 2001.

Regarding his health, which has prevented him from flying to Australia to give evidence to the Royal Commission on allegations that he covered up the abuse of minors while he was a priest in Ballarat, he said he was 'holding up'.

'I can't travel on my doctor's advice,' he told Daily Mail Australia.  

Cardinal Pell has continued to deny allegations that he sexually abused minors decades earlier in Ballarat, and has called for a public inquiry into how the Herald Sun got the story, which was reported after a leak.

The Church has been quick to come to his defence, with Melbourne's Archbishop Hart describing the timing of the leak as being 'designed to do maximum damage', ahead of the Cardinal's scheduled date for giving evidence to the Royal Commission by video link on February 29.

'The allegations do not reflect the man I have known for more than 50 years,' Archbishop Hart said. 

When asked to speculate who was behind the leak to the Herald Sun, and if he was the subject of a smear campaign, Cardinal Pell said: 'Who knows?'

It has been alleged that the 74-year-old Cardinal sexually abused minors 'by both grooming and opportunity', but no evidence has been presented, no charges have been filed and he has not been officially named as the target of an investigation by Victoria Police.

Supporters have branded the allegations a 'witch hunt', while others have called him a 'coward' for not returning to Australia to face the victims of child abuse he is accused of concealing.

As police consider travelling to Rome to question Cardinal George Pell over the child sex abuse allegations, Australia's top Catholic has been seen strolling along the streets in the early spring sunshine.

Cardinal Pell, 74, dropped into his local café with a friend on Saturday afternoon, the day after explosive revelations that he is the subject of a year-long investigation by Victoria Police for the alleged sexual abuse of up to ten minors from 1978 to 2001.

Just a stone's throw from St Peter's Basilica, the Pope's special Jubilee Saturday Mass could be heard from Cardinal Pell's luxurious apartment block. 

The Cardinal was seen briskly striding from his offices to his apartment with a small suitcase in tow just hours after the Herald Sun reported the leak on Friday.

However Cardinal Pell vehemently denies the allegations.

A two-page medical report was handed up to support the application that a flight to Australia from Rome, where Cardinal Pell oversees the Vatican's finances, could pose a serious risk to his health.

The details of his health condition have not been released.




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