Cardinal George Pell's memory 'fallible' as Royal Commission testimony begins

By Nick Alexander
9 News
February 29, 2016

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/02/29/08/53/cardinal-george-pells-royal-commission-testimony-begins

Cardinal George Pell has conceded that he was aware of some abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers in Ballarat schools during the 1970s.

"When did you first hear of Christian Brothers in Ballarat offending against children?" Gail Furness SC asked.

"Perhaps in the early '70s I heard things about Dowlan," Cardinal Pell replied, referring to Christian Brother Ted Dowlan, whose abuse of young boys was "blatant" and "widely known".

But Cardinal Pell said that he was not aware that Dowlan's "misbehaviour" was common knowledge and that information he received was "unspecified".

February 29, 2016: Australia's highest ranking Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, will give evidence via videolink this morning to the Child Abuse Royal Commission.

"I don't think there were any names given to me at all, there were one or two fleeting references to misbehaviour by Dowlan," Cardinal Pell said.

"Which I concluded might have been pedophile activity."

Earlier today the cardinal said there could be a "prima facie" case for an inquest into Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, his superior in Ballarat in the 1970s, whose handling of abuse claims he described as "a catastrophe for the victims and a catastrophe for the church".

February 29, 2016: Police are investigating reports of security “assaulting” cameramen and journalists, as Cardinal George Pell arrived to give evidence into child abuse before the Royal Commission.

The cardinal's own memory of whether or not he was aware of the sexual abuse against children in Ballarat remains patchy, he conceded while giving video testimony from a hotel in Rome today.

Cardinal Pell claims he did not know that police were investigating Monsignor John Day in 1972, despite several other members of the clergy and teachers knowing of Day's "love of young boys".

Asked if he had ever encountered Monsignor John Day during his time in Ballarat, Cardinal Pell said he "probably heard some discussion and gossip", but that at the time he sided with Day, who was parish priest of Sacred Hearts in Mildura.

February 28, 2016: Fifteen survivors abused as children by Catholic clergy in Ballarat have landed in Rome to watch Cardinal George Pell testify before a Royal Commission.

"He was accused of some sort of pedophilia activity," Cardinal Pell said.

"I must say in those days of a priests denied such activity, I would accept the denial."

Cardinal Pell admitted to having a poor recollection about the allegations of abuse four decades ago saying at the time it was “not gossiped about extensively”.

"I'd remind you that Mildura's about 200km away, I was not aware of any such general discussions in the Swan Hill community. I can't remember any layperson mentioning it to me, but they might have," Cardinal Pell said, insisting that he had no knowledge of a police investigation launched into Day in early 1972.

February 20, 2016: Cardinal George Pell is denying any wrong doing after newspaper the herald sun reported that Victoria police have been conducting a yearlong investigation into allegations he abused children.

Under the watchful gaze of 15 Australian abuse survivors in the Quirinale Hotel, Cardinal Pell began proceedings by swearing on a Bible before saying that he does not intend to "defend the indefensible."

"The church has made enormous mistakes and is here to remedy those," Cardinal Pell said, adding that the church has "mucked things up and let people down."

"Unfortunately original sin is alive and well, the tendency to evil in the Catholic Church too,"Cardinal Pell said.

"For good or for ill the church follows the patterns of the society in which it lives."

February 24, 2016: Six abuse survivors from Ballarat share their stories ahead of Cardinal George Pell giving evidence at next week’s Royal Commission.

But when questioned about his time in Ballarat, where he took up the position of episcopal vicar for several Catholic institutions in the area, Mr Pell insisted that he was not aware of any allegations of sexual abuse - despite having  described his role as "the essential link between bishop priests, parents, teachers and students".

"It's a long time ago, but I can't remember such complaints and normally they would be addressed to the education office and not the vicar," Cardinal Pell told the Commission.

"I can't remember such any examples but my memory might be playing me false...I don't have perfect recall…my memory is sometimes fallible," he said.

Similarly, when asked whether he was aware that notorious pedophile Gerard Risdale had been sent away for "treatment" by the church, the cardinal, who lived with Risdale in Ballarat and accompanied him to trial in 1993, said he was not aware of the nature of the"psychological treatment".

May 28, 2015: Gerald Francis Ridsdale has told the Royal Commission into child sex abuse that he doesn't think he disclosed his crimes to priest George Pell while living in a Ballarat presbytery.

Cardinal Pell conceded that moving Risdale from parish to parish was a mistake, and admitted that during the 1980s, in particular, it was "much more difficult for the child to be believed then".

"Sometimes they were dismissed in absolutely scandalous circumstances. (There were) very plausible allegations made by responsible people that were not followed up sufficiently," the cardinal said.

"Reasonable complaints which were dealt with very poorly."

Accoding to the ABC, community members watching on in Ballarat gasped at several of Cardinal Pell's answers.

The hearing continues.