Pell testifies in Rome

The West Australian
February 29, 2016

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/30952678/cardinal-pell-arrives-at-rome-hotel-early/

Cardinal George Pell

From left, Dominic Ridsdale, Phil Nagle, Tony Waroley, Stephen Woods and Peter Blenkiron, survivors and relatives of priestly sex abuse, stand in front of the Quirinale hotel in Rome, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. A group of Australian survivors of priestly sex abuse and their relatives are in Rome to witness one of the highest-ranking Vatican official, Cardinal George Pell, testify before an Australian commission investigating the depth of the abuse scandal Down Under. Photo by Alessandra Tarantino

Peter Blenkiron, a survivor of priestly sex abuse, wears a T-shirt showing him at the age in which he was abused, in front of the Quirinale hotel in Rome, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Photo by Alessandra Tarantino

Cardinal Pell says the church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy them.

"The church in many places, certainly in Australia, has mucked things up, has let people down. I'm not here to defend the indefensible," Cardinal Pell told the child abuse royal commission from Rome.

The cardinal, who was too ill to return to Australia for questioning, is testifying via videolink from the Hotel Quirinale in Rome in front of a group of survivors from Ballarat.

Cardinal Pell says a number of complaints of clergy abuse of children were wrongly dismissed.

"I don't have the statistics on that but too many of them certainly were dismissed and sometimes they were dismissed in absolutely scandalous circumstances," Cardinal Pell said.

He said the tendency to dismiss complaints was more about protecting the church.

"At that stage, the instinct was more to protect the institution, the community of the church, from shame," he said.

"I'm not sure at that stage there was too much concern about protecting assets."

Counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness SC said many inquiries around the world had found those in senior church positions did not take action that a reasonable person thought should have been taken over child abuse allegations.

Cardinal Pell blamed the failure to act on personal faults rather than the church's structure.

"I think the faults overwhelmingly have been more personal faults, personal failures, rather than structures," he said.

Asked to explain why the Catholic Church had operated in such a similar way across the world, Cardinal Pell said "unfortunately original sin is alive and well" and the church follows the patterns of society.

Cardinal Pell said there was a predisposition not to believe children complaining about abuse around the late 1980s and agreed the instinct was to protect the church from shame.

Before giving evidence, he swore on the Bible that he would tell the truth.

He will be questioned over three to four days about what he knew of historic pedophile activity by priests when he served in Ballarat and Melbourne.

First up, he detailed his role at the Vatican, describing it as "something equivalent to a treasurer" but would not concur that he held the third most senior position in the church.

"I wouldn't say it was. People like to make these hypothetical lists. Some people would see the financial affairs of the Vatican as very low on the list," he said.

"I'm a senior official in the Roman curia."

He was then asked about financing of compensation for victims of clergy abuse.

He said he had given advice, as one of the nine cardinals on an informal council advising the pope, prior to the establishment of the pontifical commission for the protection of minors in March 2014.

Cardinal Pell, under questioning, said child sex abuse had been an issue for centuries.

"The church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those but the church in many places, certainly in Australia, has mucked things up, has let people down," he said.

"I'm not here to defend the indefensible."

He said the church in Australia had put in place procedures 20 years ago, namely the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing.

The problems in the church were not down to a "few bad apples" or the structure of the church.

"I think the faults overwhelmingly have been more personal faults, personal failures rather than structures," he said.

"Let me remind you that the reforms in '96/'97 occurred within the old structures."

A group of survivors of child sex abuse at the hands of priests has arrived at the hotel where Cardinal Pell is giving evidence.

Cardinal Pell arrived earlier, three hours ahead of the scheduled 10pm (0800 AEST) start of the special hearing at the elegant Hotel Quirinale.

He was too ill to return to Australia for questioning and will give his videolink testimony to the commission in Sydney.

Reporters outside the hotel say Cardinal Pell's security team was heavy handed, pushing camera crews aside as he entered the hotel.

He will be questioned over three to four days about what he knew of historic pedophile activity by priests when he served in Ballarat and Melbourne.

The Ballarat-born churchman is now in charge of the Vatican's finances.

A Sydney man who confronted Cardinal George Pell when he first gave evidence to the child abuse royal commission two years ago says he hopes Australia's most senior Catholic finally "tells us the truth".

John Hennessy, 80, will join dozens of other abuse victims at a public hearing in Sydney on Monday morning to watch Cardinal Pell give evidence via video link from a hotel in Rome.

"We hope he does the right thing. We hope everything finally comes clean," Mr Hennessy, a former deputy mayor of Campbelltown Council, told AAP.

Cardinal Pell is expected to be questioned about several different matters on Monday including claims that he knew offending priests were moved from parish to parish.

"I cannot believe he didn't know what was going on," Mr Hennessy said on Sunday.

"It's up to Cardinal Pell. He must tell us what really happened," he said.

Mr Hennessy was raped, beaten and emotionally abused for six years while he was a young boy at the Christian Brothers' Boys Town in Western Australia during the 1940s.

When Cardinal Pell first gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sex Abuse in 2014, Mr Hennessy sensationally stepped into the aisle at the public hearing room and said: "You should be ashamed of yourself, Cardinal".

Mr Hennessy said the confrontation was one of his proudest moments.

"I have no malice against him but I just want the truth to come out," he said.

The former teacher, who's a member of the Child Migrants Trust, said he was proud of the group of abuse victims who managed to make their way to Rome to watch Cardinal Pell testify.

"And we are all standing strong and supporting them from over here," he said.

Cardinal Pell has maintained he was never involved in the cover-up of abuse by clergy.

The former Melbourne and Sydney archbishop is now in charge of the Vatican's finances.

WHY HE'S APPEARING AGAIN

Now the Vatican's finance chief, the former Melbourne and Sydney archbishop and Ballarat priest will give evidence about abuse in the Ballarat diocese and Melbourne archdiocese.

Between 1973 and 1984 Pell was a Ballarat East priest, Episcopal Vicar for Education in the Ballarat diocese and an adviser to the Ballarat bishop.

Pell presided over St Alipius primary school where four Christian Brothers were pedophiles. He and another priest lived in a presbytery with Australia's worst pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale in 1973.

Pell was Melbourne auxiliary bishop (1987-1996), responsible for a region including Doveton which had a succession of pedophile priests, and then Melbourne archbishop (1996-2001).

CLAIM HE ATTEMPTED TO SILENCE A VICTIM

David Ridsdale claims when he told Pell in 1993 he had been abused by his uncle Gerald Ridsdale, Pell said: "I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet."

Pell denies the allegation.

CLAIM HE DISMISSED A VICTIM'S COMPLAINT

Timothy Green, 53, said when he was 12 or 13 he told Pell that Brother Edward Dowlan was abusing boys at Ballarat's St Patrick's College in 1974. "Fr Pell said `don't be ridiculous' and walked out." Pell says he has no recollection of a conversation with Green and it did not happen.

CLAIM HE REMARKED RIDSDALE OFFENDING AGAIN

Former altar boy BWE said he overheard Pell tell Fr Frank Madden before a funeral in Ballarat in 1983: "Ha, ha, I think Gerry's been rooting boys again." Pell's barrister Sam Duggan said the allegation was utterly false.

Madden said Pell never said that and had never used that kind of language.

CLAIMS HE WAS COMPLICIT IN MOVING RIDSDALE BETWEEN PARISHES

The commission has heard 1971-1997 Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns knew in 1975 Ridsdale had abused children but did not tell his advisers the reason he and other pedophile priests were moved between parishes.

Pell was at a 1982 meeting which discussed moving Ridsdale from Mortlake.

Mulkearns told the meeting there was a problem with homosexuality in the diocese and he had to move Ridsdale, Ballarat priest Fr Eric Bryant said.

Pell says Mulkearns did not raise pedophilia allegations against Ridsdale.

"I would never have condoned or participated in a decision to transfer Ridsdale in the knowledge that he had abused children, and I did not do so," Pell said.

HIS PART IN FAILURES IN THE MELBOURNE ARCHDIOCESE

Current Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart says his predecessors failed to act on abuse complaints but excluded Pell from his criticism.

Hart said there was a complete failure in handling complaints in Doveton and Pell will have to explain what he knew.

"I would have expected him to have an adequate degree of knowledge; whether he knew all these awful things, which make me feel ashamed, I'm not sure."

WHAT RIDSDALE SAYS ABOUT PELL

Ridsdale testified he could remember nothing of his former housemate Pell. Pell has said it was a mistake to accompany Ridsdale to his first court appearance in 1993 as he did not know the extent of his crimes.

Ridsdale said he did not discuss the offences with Pell.

THIRD TIME AT CHILD ABUSE ROYAL COMMISSION

The focus is on the Catholic Church's handling of child sex abuse allegations in Victoria's Diocese of Ballarat and the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Cardinal Pell was a Ballarat priest (1973-1984) and as the diocese's episcopal vicar for education oversaw schools including St Alipius where four Christian Brothers were pedophiles.

He was one of Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns' advisers, at a time when there were pedophile priests in the diocese and was at meetings where the appointment of priests was discussed.

Cardinal Pell and another priest lived in a presbytery with pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale in 1973.

As a Melbourne auxiliary bishop (1987-1996) he was responsible for areas where at least one offending priest was located, and was a member of the archbishop's personnel advisory board and the curia.

He then became Melbourne archbishop (1996-2001).

WHY HE IS IN ROME AND NOT SYDNEY

Cardinal Pell was to give evidence in person before medical advice that he should not take a long-haul flight due to a worsened heart condition.

The commission in the end agreed he could give videolink evidence from Rome to a hearing in Sydney.

It then agreed survivors could be in the Rome hotel conference room with Cardinal Pell when he gives his evidence.

SECOND COMMISSION APPEARANCE, AUGUST 2014

Cardinal Pell gave videolink evidence from the Vatican to a Melbourne hearing focused on the Melbourne Response, the abuse complaints handling scheme he set up in 1996.

Cardinal Pell said they never anticipated the volume of responses and that the scheme would go on for years.

He attracted outrage by saying the Catholic Church is no more legally responsible for priests who abuse children than a trucking company which employs a driver who molests women.

The commission found the Melbourne Response is not independent, is overly legalistic and should leave it to the police to advise abuse victims about potential charges.

FIRST COMMISSION APPEARANCE, SYDNEY, MARCH 2014

Cardinal Pell gave evidence in person to a hearing about abuse victim John Ellis' legal case, from his time as Sydney archbishop (2001-2014).

Mr Ellis failed in his attempt to sue the Archdiocese of Sydney's trust when a court ruled it could not be held liable, a ruling setting the Ellis defence precedent that has been a roadblock to litigation for other abuse victims.

Cardinal Pell admitted the Catholic Church did not deal fairly with Mr Ellis "from a Christian point of view", but in a legal sense it did nothing improper.

In an apology, he said the church had failed Mr Ellis and as archbishop he took ultimate responsibility for the suffering and the terrible impact on his life.

The commission found the archdiocese was wrong in concluding the priest did not abuse Mr Ellis and that Cardinal Pell accepted legal advice to vigorously defend the claim so as to deter other victims from suing the church.

VICTORIAN PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY, MELBOURNE, MAY 2013

Giving evidence in person, Cardinal Pell apologised for abuse by clergy but did not believe there was a culture of abuse.

He admitted abuse had been covered up due to a fear of scandal, documents destroyed and priests had been moved on, but denied personally being involved in any cover-up and said he had acted in victims' best interests.

The parliamentary committee took Cardinal Pell to task in its report over his attempt to separate the church as a whole from the actions of senior religious figures it said had "minimalised and trivialised" the issue.