AUSTRALIA
The Australian
AUSTRALIA’S most powerful Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, says a claim that he was present when a boy raped by a Christian Brother in regional Victoria described the incident to another priest is a “false and seriously misleading allegation” and that he was not in Australia at the time.
Responding to a submission to the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the handling of alleged criminal abuse of children by religious and other organisations, Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, said he was studying at Oxford at the time of the alleged incident.
A statement issued by the archdiocese of Sydney said: “The claims made in relation to Cardinal Pell in a submission to the inquiry by Waller Legal are irresponsible, untrue and are absolutely rejected.
“These are the facts. The Cardinal was ordained a priest in 1966 in Rome, he continued his studies and then travelled to Oxford to study for his doctorate. Cardinal Pell was studying at Oxford in 1969 and was not a priest appointed in the Diocese of Ballarat at the time alleged in Dr Waller’s submission.”
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