AUSTRALIA
The Courier
By Rick Feneley
Nov. 14, 2012
SMALL blessings. At last, it’s not all about the Catholic Church. This royal commission, says Cardinal George Pell, is ”an opportunity to clear the air, to separate fact from fiction … We object to being described as the only cab on the rank.”
It was a crowded rank indeed when Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, faced media on Tuesday at the Catholic Church’s city headquarters, on the fifth floor of Polding House. The air might have benefited from some clearing as Cardinal Pell castigated the press for smearing and scapegoating the church with exaggerations and generalisations. The church acknowledged its shame, he said. But when it came to the ”percentages” of abuse, the church was far from the only culprit – and the commission would establish that.
Cardinal Pell agreed he would likely be called before the inquiry – ”I should hope so” – to answer past claims that he covered up for abusing priests, allegations he has consistently denied.
He then got the the kind of grilling he might expect at the commission. Hadn’t victims been paid compensation to shut them up, to block legal action? ”I’ve never been involved in a case where people have been offered money so they wouldn’t go through the courts.”
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