AUSTRALIA
Sky News
Updated: 08:01, Sunday November 11, 2012
Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, is reportedly deeply ashamed at child sex abuse perpetrated by members of the church but doesn’t believe a royal commission is warranted.
The Archbishop of Sydney accepts that children were abused by priests and that the crimes were covered up by other clergy but believes the Catholic church is no worse than other organisations, News Limited reports.
‘It wasn’t just the Catholic church that hoped (an abusive priest) would amend their conduct and give them a home elsewhere,’ he told the Weekend Australian.
‘Back in those days, they were entitled to think of pedophilia as simply a sin that you would repent of. They didn’t realise that in the worst cases it was an addiction, a raging addiction.’
The church had rid itself of ‘a great deal of moral cancer’ after abuse claims came to light, he said.
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