Pell says 'not defending the indefensible'

Gold Coast Bulletin
February 28, 2016

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/breaking-news/cardinal-pell-arrives-at-rome-hotel-early/news-story/697249bfb647518a0905269a1d5de19c

Cardinal George Pell has arrived at a Rome hotel where he will face the abuse royal commission.

Case for Mulkearns inquiry, says Pell

There is a case for a judicial tribunal to consider how Bishop Ronald Mulkearns handled clergy accused of child sexual abuse, Cardinal George Pell says.

In evidence via videolink from Rome, Dr Pell said he could not give "book, chapter and verse" about what Bishop Mulkearns knew and did not act upon at particular times.

Bishop Mulkearns, who is now in his 80s and dying of cancer, was bishop in Ballarat, Victoria, from 1971 to 1997.

Dr Pell told the sex abuse royal commission there was a purpose to the way Bishop Mulkearns dealt with Gerald Ridsdale and other alleged pedophile priests.

A church-run judicial inquiry could consider how a bishop had handled sex abuse cases, he said.

He was asked by Gail Furness, SC advising the commission if he considered it appropriate for such a tribunal to consider the case of Bishop Mulkearns.

Dr Pell: "Yes there would certainly be a prime facie case. Yes."

However it would not be appropriate for him as a Vatican official to put forward a name to that tribunal, he told the child abuse royal commission.

Cardinal Pell was a Ballarat priest and one of the advisers to Bishop Mulkearns, who the commission has heard knew about pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale in 1975 and moved him between parishes.

Cardinal Pell said there was never any suggestion that, officially at any rate, sex abuse accusations should be rejected out of hand.

Bishop Mulkearns' handling of Ridsdale was "a catastrophe for the victims and a catastrophe for the church", he said.

Cardinal Pell said Bishop Mulkearns "trusted excessively in the possible benefits of psychological help".

He said Ridsdale "in at least one case was being treated for anxiety".

Ms Furness asked: "He was anxious because he was going to be charged in relation to his pedophilia, wasn't he?"

"So the record showed," Cardinal Pell replied.

He said he was not aware of priests being sent for treatment for sexual offending in the 1970s and early 1980s by Bishop Mulkearns.

Earlier he told the inquiry he was "not defending the indefensible" when speaking of the Catholic Church's handling of child sexual abuse by clergy.

"The church in many places, certainly in Australia, has mucked things up, has let people down. I'm not here to defend the indefensible."

Abuse survivors, clergy and journalists filled the Rome conference room to watch Cardinal Pell give his evidence.

And outside the commission's hearing rooms in Sydney, abuse survivors and their supporters held an early morning rally. Some of them called on the pope to sack Cardinal Pell.

Before starting his testimony, Cardinal Pell said he was willing to meet with survivors in Rome and arrangements were underway for private meetings to be held when the hearing concludes.

The hearing is due to run for about four hours a day for three to four days.