Media Release – June 29, 2017

Road to Recovery and Catholic Whistleblowers
June 29, 2017

http://www.catholicwhistleblowers.com/

CATHOLIC WHISTLEBLOWERS AND ROAD TO RECOVERY, INC. WANT TO KNOW:

WHAT POPE FRANCIS KNEW ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL OF AUSTRALIA, WHEN HE KNEW ABOUT THEM, AND WHY CARDINAL GEORGE PELL RESISTED EFFORTS BY THE AUSTRALIAN “ROYAL COMMISSION INTO INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES TO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE” FOR MORE THAN A YEAR TO HOLD HIM AND MANY OTHER CHURCH LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE WIDESPREAD SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN IN THAT COUNTRY

What and Why

A press conference applauding Cardinal George Pell’s seeming voluntary removal as the Vatican‘s financial czar while charges of sexual abuse of children against him are addressed in his native Australia. The press conference will also ask three very important and timely questions of the Vatican through the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations:

1) What did Pope Francis know about the allegations of sexual abuse against Cardinal George Pell and when did he know about them;

2) Why didn’t Pope Francis move much earlier to place Cardinal George Pell on administrative leave when it was clear that allegations leveled against him appeared to be credible and were resisted so vociferously by Cardinal Pell; and,

3) Will the Vatican finally admit that it is inherently incapable of policing itself regarding child sexual abuse allegations and allow the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, whose report in 2014 severely criticized the Vatican for its gross mishandling of sexually abusive clergy and victim/survivors, to establish an independent commission on child abuse and “bishop accountability” that has “teeth” and extensive authority

When

Friday, June 30, 2017 at 11:30 am

Where

On the public sidewalk outside the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, 25 East 39th Street (between Madison and Park Avenues), New York, New York 10016

Who

Victim/survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and members of Road to Recovery, Inc. and Catholic Whistleblowers, two organizations founded to assists victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church

Contacts

Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D. - Member of Catholic Whistleblowers; Co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families – 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com

Rev. James E. Connell, J.C.D. – On behalf of Catholic Whistleblowers; Retired Priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, WI, and Canon Lawyer – 414-940-8054 – connell.james951@gmail.com