Senate Calls on Pell to Return to Aust

By Belinda Merhab
news.com.au
February 8, 2017

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/senate-calls-on-pell-to-return-to-aust/news-story/2cf922de763fcf15cd5b936e2dacd40b

The Senate has called on Cardinal George Pell to return to Australia to face allegations of misconduct.

The Greens motion, agreed to by the upper house on Wednesday afternoon, calls on Cardinal Pell to assist police and prosecutors investigating allegations of criminal misconduct against him.

It comes after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released data revealing 40 per cent of St John of God Brothers from 1950 to 2010 were accused pedophiles.

The data also revealed 4444 people made complaints to Australian Catholic authorities between 1980 and February 2015.

"We know that the Victorian police now have allegations of criminal misconduct against Cardinal Pell," Greens senator Rachel Siewert said in a statement.

"Cardinal Pell has done a very good job at avoiding a return to Australia - it is time he came back."