AUSTRALIA
The Australian
The Daily Telegraph
November 24, 2012
AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic showed a “sociopathic lack of empathy” in dealing with victims raped by clergy, an inquiry heard yesterday.
Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, had tried to compel victims into silence when confronted with evidence of wrongdoing by parish priests when he was the Archbishop of Melbourne, the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sexual abuse was told.
Anthony Foster recalled meeting Cardinal Pell to discuss a priest who had repeatedly raped two of his daughters when they were at primary school.
He told the inquiry that Cardinal Pell said: “If you don’t like what we’re doing, take us to court,” and did not appear distressed by the incidents.
“In our interactions with the now-Cardinal Archbishop Pell, we experienced a sociopathic lack of empathy, typifying the attitude and responses of the church hierarchy,” Mr Foster said.
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