Victims put Cardinal George Pell on notice before royal commission into child abuse in Rome, news.com.au (February 28, 2016)

Victims put Cardinal George Pell on notice before royal commission into child abuse in Rome

STANDING outside the Vatican as storms clouds overhead were moments from erupting, Chrissie Foster has just six words for Cardinal George Pell as he today faces his accusers — “be a man, tell the truth”.

After a year of debate, weeks of planning and a lifetime of heartache for some, Cardinal Pell will take the stand at the royal commission into institutionalised sexual child abuse in a specially convened sitting in a hotel room in Rome.

Here he will be grilled, at the ungodly hours set at his request of 10pm to 2am local time, each night for an expected four nights on what he knew of the abuse by several priests under his watch as head of the church firstly in Melbourne then Australia.

It could have been a nonplussed affair held in Ballarat but instead the cardinal’s inability to travel abroad due to poor health forced today’s inquiry to the Italian capital and a scene tantamount to a Roman Circus with police deployed to throw the venue into lockdown and protect attending senior church figures, security guards tasked with body and bag searches and room sweeps, and doors sealed.

But for people like Chrissie and her husband Anthony — whose daughters were abused by paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell — and the 20 other survivors of abuse and or their supporters, the scene matters less than the result.

“I think this is wonderful because it’s completely turned around from what it was going to be — George Pell in a room in the Vatican on his own to a public room with witnesses and the world media,” she said yesterday.

“This is helping the work of the royal commission on a world stage, it’s been such a Godsend for the victims of Australia.

“We’ve been working toward this for 20 years and we are so grateful and happy to expose what went on in the Catholic Church to children which shouldn’t have happened in the first place and we want to stop it happening in the future.”

Clutching an Italian copy of her book ‘Cosi in Terra’ she wrote documenting the damage on her family from a priest preying and abusing two of her daughters, one of whom had since committed suicide, she said now knowing what was happening behind her back was greatly upsetting.

With her voice trembling and eyes welling she said her one message to Cardinal Pell on the eve of his evidence was: “Tell the truth, tell the truth, be honest, be a man and do what you should have done a long time ago.”

Fifteen survivors of clergy abuse and half a dozen supporters have arrived in Rome.

Leading the group off the plane was David Ridsdale, abused by his uncle priest and family friend of Cardinal Pell, Father Gerald Ridsdale.

He said the long flight over from Australia, the first to Europe for many, was emotional but now gratifying.

“We all came to make sure the royal commission process was as open and transparent as it has been in Australia,” the de facto spokesman for those abused by the clergy in Ballarat said.

He said it was not a big issue to face-off now with Cardinal Pell given all the other evidence heard by the commission over the past nine months.

He described the arrival in the home of the Catholic Church as “excited anticipation”.

“It’s not going to be a holiday but we’ll make sure there are good times as well because one thing we’ve learnt as a group is you have to laugh ... It’s been an extraordinary past nine months (of commission hearings).”

Andrew Collins, abused as a boy by four men in schools and churches, said he was feeling good and a lot of the tension and stress on leaving had dissipated.

“It’s going to be hard, growing up Catholic and walking about here and seeing these sites and we’ll be in awe then we’ll see all the collars and crucifixes and we’ll be triggered,” he said.

“We’ll see the highs and lows and that’s before we even see Cardinal Pell, so it’s going to be emotionally draining as well.”

In the Verdi Room of the Quirinale Hotel, 168 chairs were laid out for those who have registered to attend.

Cardinal George Pell missed delivering his usual Sunday mass at the magnificent Domus Australia in Rome last night, but he was very much in the thoughts of the small congregation and clearly front of mind among senior clergy.

Cardinal Pell’s sister Margaret said he was resting for the day ahead of the late night inquiry.

“He is resting today, preparing, he is very aware, he’s praying,” she said, as she left her brother’s home near the Vatican to attend Mass.

“It’s not the (royal) commission, it’s the press,” she said of her brother’s woes.

The Very Reverend Terence Bell twice mentioned Pell by name during his delivery of Sunday mass at the Domus.

Reverend Bell said in his opening address that he prayed for Cardinal Pell before alluding to the battering the church has received in light of the clergy sexual abuse: “We pray especially for Cardinal Pell, and in particular the future of the Church. The truth will set us free, we must look forward not back.”

But only five people were at the Domus Mass to hear and give the prayers for Cardinal Pell.

Outside the church, several coloured ribbons had been tied to the window grates, but it was unknown if this was in support of Loud Fence, the support group that has encouraged ribbons on church property to acknowledge the victims of child sexual abuse.

Cardinal Pell’s sister returned to her brothers residence just outside of the Vatican and said Cardinal Pell was resting. Pell remained inside the house for the afternoon as heavy rain blanketed the Italian city.