Cardinal George Pell to face Royal Commission from Rome’s Hotel Quirinale, by Charles Miranda And Victoria Craw, news.com.au (February 29, 2016)

AUSTRALIAN survivors of child sex abuse have slammed a key part of Cardinal Pell’s testimony to the Royal Commission, saying reports of brothers openly kissing children are “creepy at the very least.”

Speaking about what he knew of pedophilic activities within the church, the 74-year-old described Brother Fitzgerald’s habit of openly kissing boys when they would leave school for the day as “eccentric.”

“I think it’s alleged when some of the boys were leaving he would give them a kiss. He was a very strange, old-fashioned but good, teacher, things like that,” Cardinal Pell said.

“He was an older man and I remember it being discussed and mentioned to me,” he said, adding there were reports the teacher had gone swimming naked with the boys which seemed “most unusual” but not untowards.

It was just one of several candid moments in a gruelling late-night session in which the Vatican treasurer was grilled by the Royal Commission’s Senior Counsel Gail Furness over exactly how much he knew about paedophile priests operating in the Victorian diocese.

The Cardinal appeared modest and articulate while facing the video link and immediately struck a more gentle tone than he has in the past, telling the hearing he was not here to “defend the indefensible” within the opening minutes.

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

Immediately after the briefing, the defacto spokesman for the Australian survivors, David Ridsdale said the group was impressed by the “more conciliatory tone” from Pell.

“We would have to acknowledge that there were some statements that were certainly more constructive than previously, but in saying that there was some very careful selection of words, a very careful manner that was discussed,” he said.

However another member of the group, Andrew Collins said the Commission was just warming up with the real detail still to come.

“They really only started with the basic questions. They haven’t got into the hard stuff yet, they’re just building up to that. We wouldn’t expect a great deal on the first night” he said.

One of the hot button issues is how much Cardinal Pell knew about Gerald Ridsdale’s sexual offending. The paedophile priest jailed in 1994 is renowned as one of Australia’s worst sexual predators.

He lived at the same property as Pell for 10 months during the early 1970s. However Pell portrayed himself as a hard-working full time academic for much of the early stage of his career, with one day off a week and little time for gossip and speculation.

Pell said while he remembered “unusual” events, such as Ridsdale taking boys for camping trips, he did not think them improper because “We weren’t alert in those ways anything like the way we’re alert today.”

“Many others suffered in a similarly terrible way and I deeply regret that,” he said.

After the hearing he shook hands of survivors and supporters in the Hotel Quirinale’s Verdi room before returning to his Vatican apartment.

Earlier, survivors of child sex abuse arrived at Rome’s Hotel Quirinale in an emotionally charged scene, saying the “systemic child abuse” inside the Catholic Church needs to stop.

“We hope the world understands … this is systemic child abuse around the world. We need the hierarchy of the Vatican to stand up,” survivor David Ridsdale told the crowd of waiting international media that included representatives from CNN and the BBC.

Earlier, Cardinal Pell arrived via a back entrance to the hotel with his aides involved in a fracas with an Australian television crew. Italian police are reviewing the footage.

Recently ordained priest and former political scientist Jeffrey Langdon said he had come out of “professional interest” having known people from Boston in the 1990s who had survived abuse and warned senior figures in the church about it.

“We knew priests that had bad reputations,” he said, adding that while he did not know the specifics of Ballarat, authority figures were duty bound to consider whether rumours have significance.

“I would say if you hear enough rumours … you have the obligation to follow up. We’ll get a sense of the responsibility authorities have,” he said, referring to the public hearing.

For three months, child sex abuse survivor Paul Levey has been carrying a dog-eared envelope with him.

Addressed simply, to “Cardinal George Pell, The Vatican” the one page inside puts into words what he has not been able to say to his face — his thoughts on the abuse he suffered as a child and what needs to be done to fix it.

“It’s very to the point,” he said, standing jet-lagged outside his Rome hotel. “I want to hand him that letter … It’s about I am a survivor and I want to be heard.”

It’s a chance he’ll finally get following the Royal Commission hearing which begins at 10pm Sunday evening in the Italian capital. Despite strict security and a ban on protesting, Paul and his partner of 20 years, Michele, have carried a banner announcing their support for “Loud Fence” — the survivor movement that ties ribbons on fences all around the world.

“If no one is talking about it, people stay quiet,” he said. “We find every time the media picks up on it another dozen people come out.”

For Paul, hearing church bells and being in the heart of the world’s foremost Catholic city has brought memories of his childhood flooding back.

He wants Cardinal Pell, now the Vatican finance boss facing the Royal Commission for the third time, to admit what he knew when decades worth of abuse was occurring in Australian parishes. He also plans to use a private meeting following the hearing to secure a concrete commitment to supporting survivors.

“When Pell announced he would see survivors after the testimony, I don’t think he thought we were going to come,” Paul said. “Michele and I jumped on that.”

“He doesn’t have to admit he knew but he has to admit the Catholic Church in Australia has done it wrong. He needs to stand up and say ‘the church has mucked up and this is what we’re going to do to fix it.’”

Earlier, the pair visited the Vatican and tied Loud Fence ribbons in various parts of the city. The gesture was echoed by Cardinal Pell at the Vatican Gardens who did the same in support of the people of Ballarat.

“I think this is an entirely appropriate place to place a ribbon of support and prayed for all survivors of abuse here. I hope the coming days will eventually lead to healing for everyone,” he said.

Cardinal Pell’s sister Margaret said her brother had spent the day resting and praying ahead of the Sunday hearing which will be broadcast live to the Royal Commission headquarters in Sydney and Ballarat.

It will be covered by a range of American and European media outlets and comes on the same day feature film Spotlight, documenting the real-life story of abuse uncovered by Boston Globe reporters, vies for the Best Picture and Best Director Oscar.

On Saturday, abuse survivors led by David Ridsdale, nephew of Australia’s most notorious paedophile priest Father Gerald Ridsdale, arrived in Rome wearing T-shirts to support their cause after a crowd-funding campaign raised more than $200,000 for them.

“We all came to make sure the royal commission process was as open and transparent as it has been in Australia,” Mr Ridsdale said.

Chrissie Foster, whose two daughters suffered abuse at the hands of paedophile priests said the extraordinary circumstances which have seen the event take place in Rome have been a “God-send” for families.

“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,” she said.

An Australian TV crew has formally complained to the royal commission as their cameraman was “crash tackled” by security detail as he attempted to film Cardinal George Pell’s backdoor entrance to the hearings.

Shortly after 7pm local time, Cardinal Pell and his entourage were still debating whether to arrive at the front of Hotel Quirinale or the back gardens entrance before electing on the latter.

A security detail of plain clothed police and others were dispatched to the back gates of the hotel’s gardens but were surprised to see a cameraman from SBS Australia there while most of the world press were out front.

In a howling gale, Cardinal Pell made his way to the entrance with the cameraman dramatically tackled and the reporter from the network clearly punched in the stomach.

“We did nothing wrong,” he said last night as he lodged a formal complaint at the apparent heavy handedness of the security which has enveloped the historic hotel, the venue of the extraordinary royal commission hearings into child abuse.

Two vans full of uniformed officers later turned up, parking discreetly in a side road as did the head of Vatican security and half a dozen of his security officers dressed all in black.

The cardinal’s inglorious entrance with half a dozen aides came as a huge storm of high gale winds and thunder raged overhead.

Today, Italian police were reviewing footage of the incident to determine if their actions were lawful.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Pell’s evidence was to begin at 10pm, but his defence began four hours earlier with his office looking to correct perceived “opinions” in a report in News Corp newspapers.

The Royal Commission has stated Cardinal Pell’s attendance recall in Rome was because of his holding of “positions of responsibility in both dioceses (Melbourne and Ballarat) at both times” in the period being analysed the 1970s to 1990s.

But the cardinal’s office emailed the newspaper to point out that he was never in charge of the diocese in Ballarat when principle offender Father Gerard Ridsdale molested hundreds of boys only to be moved from parish to parish about the state.

Cardinal Pell’s office also asked that it be noted he was not a “close friend” of the convicted paedophile, despite the fact they both attended St Patricks College, they shared a house for a year, both went to corpus christi seminary, albeit at different times, and as heard in earlier testimony their families knew each other.

Cardinal Pell also said while he did come to court with Ridsdale when he faced charges of paedophilia that did not mean he was there in a “support” capacity but rather because he was told to do it.

“It is necessary to make the corrections,” his office said hours before the Cardinal made his much anticipated cross-examination appearance at the commission hearing.

The dress has been chosen and the menu decided, but what newlywed couple Mia and Michael were not banking on, was an Australian Royal Commission into institutional responses into child sex abuse gate crashing their big day.

The public questioning of Cardinal George Pell will take place in Rome’s opulent Hotel Quirinale, a grand imperial style building with marble columns and high ceiling arches on one of the city’s wide cobbled boulevards.

Inside the hotel’s Verdi room, furnished with green upholstered chairs and ceiling chandeliers, the Vatican number three will be grilled on what he knew about paedophile priests operating inside the Catholic Church in Victoria under the Commission’s Case Study 28 and Case Study 35.

It’s a huge moment for up to 20 survivors and supporters who have travelled 16,000 kilometres to hear the Cardinal in the flesh.

During tonight’s hearing Cardinal Pell will sit at the front of the 168 room with parquetry floors, just past where tables are set with champagne glasses and roped off for the wedding celebrations.

His legal representation will remain in Sydney with the hearing broadcast on the Royal Commission website.