Cardinal Pell Meets with Pope Francis Ahead of Second Day of Testimony at Royal Commission
news.com.au
During a tense and at times hostile four-hour session covering exactly what the 74-year-old knew of allegations against Fr Gerald Ridsdale, the Vatican boss was grilled on how he could have remained unaware of what was “common knowledge” in at least two parishes in Victoria. At the time, Cardinal Pell was a member of a consultation team responsible for appointing and posting priests to parishes. Cardinal Pell said he had thought Ridsdale’s regular moves to five or six parishes was “unsual”, but never sought nor was told why. He only later discovered it was because child sex claims had been made against him prompting diocese Bishop Mulkearns to move him on.
Cardinal Pell vigorously defended the fact he never knew of allegations against Ridsdale despite it being an open secret within the community. That lack of knowledge by him — even while at least three other consultors knew — was branded implausible. “It would only be implausible if there was evidence that they (consultors) have been told in one way or another,” Cardinal Pell told Senior Counsel Gail Furness. “That is a complete non-sequitir. We can conclude about those who had that knowledge, we cannot conclude about the mind of those who were not privy to that knowledge.” The tense exchange was one of several adversarial moments during the hearing in which the Cardinal admitted Ridsdale’s offending was a “sad story” but added his evils “wasn’t of much interest to me”, a response that attracted audible gasps from the Sydney headquarters. He said it was certainly “unusual” for someone to be moved as many times as Ridsdale but laid the blame for shunting him between parishes squarely on Bishop Mulkearns, who had known of allegations for at least a decade.
“Unfortunately I would have to say that I can’t nominate another Bishop whose actions are so grave and inexplicable. There might be some but they don’t come to mind. His repeated refusal to act is absolutely extraordinary,” he said. The defensive tone struck on the second day of hearings was at odds with the more humble approach during the first session. While the Vatican’s finance chief entered through the front door and appeared strong and eloquent on the witness stand in front of a growing contingent of international media, he repeatedly refused to admit any culpability for the movement of Ridsdale within the church, saying he could not remember accusations of pedophilia ever being raised in his presence. “I don’t have a clear recollection of this meeting at all expect for that pedophila was never mentioned,” he told the incredulous Furness, prompting the response. “If you can’t recall, how can you recall that he didn’t mention pedophilia? As the lawyer worked methodically to build up a picture of adjoining parishes where families, doctors, bishops and police had been warned about sexual offending, Pell described a different age without social media and mobile phones, where country parishes were miles apart and there was a natural reticience about sexual taboos particularly within the “secretive” priesthood. “Priests because they hear confessions can be and must be in certain matters amongst the most secretive of people,” he said. “Certainly at that stage there was never any discussion in my presence about the dreadful story of Ridsdale.”
He was also cagey on the role of senior figures in the church and their responsibility for preventing harm, saying “you can’t wave a magic wand and correct the situation easily in every situation.” Survivors who had travelled 16000 kilometres to see Pell testify in the flesh appeared hostile and agitated during the hearing. Paul Levey, who survived Ridsdale’s abuse, sat slumped during parts when the Commission was told how the then 14-year old was forced to share a room with the pedophile. Outside, the now 53-year-old said he “can’t believe” Pell didn’t know anything about the reason Ridsdale was sent to Sydney. “Of course he was. He had to be. He was at those meetings,” he said. “He suggested that his move was a promotion to a better job but he was moved to…where supposedly he did not have access to children.” POPE BACKS PELL Cardinal Pell arrived at the royal commission venue two hours ahead of the scheduled start. “I have the full backing of the Pope,” he said, answering a question on his meeting with the pontiff, as he entered the Hotel Quirinale where he was in a suite to rest in before the late night session hearing begins. Cardinal Pell has met with Pope Francis at the Vatican ahead of his second day of testimony to the Australia Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse.
The 74-year-old’s discussion with the Catholic Church’s leader was prearranged, according to Italian media which is covering the hearing as it’s the first time a senior church figure has faced questions on sexual abuse since Jozef Wesolowski. The Polish former Vatican ambassador died of natural causes in August last year while awaiting trial over alleged sexual abuse of children committed in the Dominican Republic. He was also accused of possessing child pornography and seen as a key test of the Holy See’s commitment to investigating abuse within its ranks. Earlier this month, Pope Francis declared sexual abuse against children to be a “monstrosity” and bishops who declared a blind eye and moved priests among parishes should “present their resignation”. Whether or not Cardinal Pell knew of offending among the brothers of the Catholic diocese in Victoria is the subject of this week’s hearing, with day two of testimony expected to get down to detail of what he saw and heard while working in the state.
The second session comes following Hollywood’s Academy Awards where Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight, which covers the real-life expose of abuse in Boston’s Catholic Church by a team of reporters, picked up the Best Picture award. Lady Gaga also performed a powerful piece in support of survivors of sexual abuse. During the opening day of the Royal Commission, Cardinal Pell said he would not “defend the indefensible” and admitted the church had “mucked up” when it came to treatment of sexual abuse survivors. However, he maintained that he knew nothing specific about abuse in the diocese at the time he was there. HOW ITALIAN MEDIA IS COVERING PROBE The Italian press has given Australia’s probe into institutionalised child sex abuse modest coverage, but enough to please the survivors who have travelled to Rome to have their voices heard. Until now, the media in Italy has largely ignored the Royal Commission’s probe, seeing it very much as an Australian-only issue.
But the appearance of Cardinal Pell, the Vatican’s high-profile equivalent of the treasurer, has propelled it as a top issue, with most of the national dailies recording the hearing. “Yes, it is good to see they are now picking it up,” Chrissie Foster, whose daughters Emma and Katie were abused by their local parish priest, said. The Italian press has largely remained silent on the abuse claims; yesterday they noted Cardinal Pell had admitted the church had made “enormous mistakes” in how it handled issues but their was no proof to implicate him in anyway. La Repubblica gave the hearing a half page spread and noted that, while Cardinal Pell has consistently denied “with strength” any knowledge of wrong doing, the Australian public considered him guilty. They also found it hard to believe he could not have known what was going on. Il Messaggero highlighted that thousands of children had been abused by the clergy in Australia.
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