AUSTRALIA
WA Today
AAP
Cardinal George Pell has labelled an article about him in the Fairfax media on Monday as a “smear of the most vindictive kind”.
A statement released by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney on Monday says the article misrepresents the outcome of a 2002 inquiry into an allegation against Cardinal Pell.
The inquiry, headed by independent commissioner Alex Southwell QC, cleared Dr Pell of allegations he molested a boy during a camp at Phillip Island, in Victoria, in 1961.
The church says the article said Dr Pell was tainted by sex abuse scandals and long dogged by allegations of sexual abuse against him.
“These statements are utterly false and seriously defamatory,” the church said in a statement.
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