Cardinal George Pell: His Biggest Controversies
By Megan Palin
CARDINAL SHOWED SUPPORT FOR PAEDOPHILE PRIEST Cardinal Pell was slammed for his decision to accompany Father Gerald Ridsdale, in sunglasses and white suit, to a Melbourne court where he was facing charges for multiple sex crimes against children in 1993. Cardinal Pell has never shaken off the public’s perception of that choice, that for him and his church, priestly welfare comes before victims’ needs. Ridsdale was later convicted over 54 child sex abuse offences. Cardinal Pell later said the decision to support Ridsdale was a “mistake”. He also denied accusations that he had earlier moved Ridsdale from one parish to another after allegedly being told he was a paedophile at a meeting in September 1982. Cardinal Pell last year told the royal commission that paedophilia was never mentioned at that meeting or while he was a consulter from 1977 to 1984. “That was not mentioned by Bishop Mulkearns about Ridsdale during my term as a consulter,” he said via audio visual link from Rome. “There was no reference to sexual misconduct with minors.” Cardinal Pell said at the time he knew nothing about Ridsdale’s paedophilia. “I knew that he was a somewhat difficult person and obviously that he had been shifted around quite a bit. Other priests who were shifted perhaps not as frequently as him but, for one reason or another, moved frequently.” Counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness SC said three of the seven advisers at the September 1982 meeting knew it was necessary to move Ridsdale because of sexual complaints against him and it was implausible that the others were not told why. “It would only be implausible if there was evidence that they had been told in some way or other,” Cardinal Pell said. Ms Furness said: “I suggest that it is implausible, given the knowledge of three of those consulters, given the conduct of Ridsdale and the wording of those minutes that the consulters, including you, did not know why it had become necessary for him to be moved?” Cardinal Pell said that was complete nonsense. “We can conclude about those who had that knowledge. We cannot conclude about the minds of those who were not privy to that knowledge,” he said. ‘CONDOMS ENCOURAGE PROMISCUITY AND IRRESPONSIBILITY’ In 2002, Cardinal Pell offered a perspective on abortion. “Abortion is a worse moral scandal than priests sexually abusing young people,” he said. Over the years Cardinal Pell has also spoken out against the use of abortion drug RU486, an Australian charter of human rights, and backed the Pope’s claims in 2009 that condoms were aggravating the AIDS problem in Africa. “They’re encouraging promiscuity because they’re encouraging irresponsibility,” Cardinal Pell said. “The idea that you can solve a great spiritual and health crisis like AIDS with a few mechanical contraptions like condoms is ridiculous.” DECISION NOT TO RETURN TO AUSTRALIA FROM VATICAN Cardinal Pell was the subject of international debate that raged about his inability to appear in person at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The Commissioner ruled that Cardinal Pell be relieved from having to fly home from the Vatican to personally give evidence, on medical grounds. He was instead granted the less confrontational right of appearing by video link, thereby avoiding being in the same room as some victims and families who have indicated that they’d really like him to look them in the eye. The move — or lack thereof — prompted outrage among the community. Everyone had an opinion about Cardinal Pell’s heart diagnosis. A crowd-funding campaign raised more than $165,000 to fly abuse survivors to Rome so they could confront Pell in person. At the time, comedian Tim Minchin released a song dedicated to Pell called Come Home. His lyrics referred to the cardinal as a “goddamn coward”, “pompous buffoon” and “scum”. “Oh well, Cardinal Pell, if you don’t feel compelled to come home by your sense of moral duty, perhaps you will come home and frickin’ sue me,” the lyrics said.
NO MEMORY A national inquiry into the institutional responses to child sex abuse in Australia between 1950 and 2010 found that seven per cent of Catholic priests were accused but that the allegations were never investigated. The inquiry, ordered in 2012, found that 4444 alleged incidents of paedophilia were reported to church authorities and that in some dioceses, more than 15 per cent of priests were perpetrators. Repeatedly questioned during the inquiry about paedophile priests in the Ballarat diocese in the 1970s and 80s, Cardinal Pell apologised on behalf of the church, but insisted he had no memory of claims of sustained mistreatment. He did, however, admit he “mucked up” in dealing with paedophile priests in the 1970s, but said he was deceived by senior clergy about what was happening during a time of “crimes and cover-ups”. Australia’s most powerful Catholic was cleared of any wrongdoing when historical accusations were levelled at him while he was Archbishop of Sydney in 2002. But victims insist he must have been aware of the rampant abuse. “I believe (Cardinal Pell) did his job well,” child abuse survivor Julie Stewart said after Cardinal Pell gave evidence to the commission. “He did his job by protecting the church’s assets and protecting the church’s name, but I don’t believe he protected the children.”
In 2013, he argued that the church did not grasp the horror of sex abuse in the 1970s, for only then “articles started to appear about the significance and importance and the terrible crimes of paedophilia”. He offered a statement for his church’s “imperfect” response, then addressed four hours of questions with very little patience. He told the inquiry several factors, including celibacy, could have contributed to the high levels of abuse seen in the Victorian Catholic Church.
THE ‘SEAL OF CONFESSION’ Cardinal Pell prompted outrage after he publicly announced that priests who hear confessions from colleagues who commit child sex abuse should remain bound by the Seal of Confession. Addressing the media in Sydney in relation to the royal commission into child sex abuse, Cardinal Pell explained church protocol for priests who confess to child sex abuse to another priest. “If that is done outside the confessional (it can be passed on),” he said in 2012. “(But) the Seal of Confession is inviolable.” He said priests should avoid hearing confession from colleagues suspected of committing child sex abuse to avoid being bound by the Seal of Confession. “If the priest knows beforehand about such a situation, the priest should refuse to hear the confession,” he said. “That would be my advice, and I would never hear the confession of a priest who is suspected of such a thing.” COMPARED CATHOLIC CHURCH TO A TRUCKING COMPANY While Cardinal Pell delivered a perfunctory apology to the separate Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into abuse cases in 2013 it was what he said when he last appeared by video link before the Royal Commission in 2014 that lingered. “If the truck driver picks up some lady and then molests her, I don’t think it’s appropriate, because it is contrary to the policy, for the ownership, the leadership of that company to be held responsible,” Cardinal Pell said.
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.