AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
AAP
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott says Cardinal George Pell does bear some responsibility for the errors of the Catholic Church, but in the same breath defended the senior Catholic’s response to child sex abuse.
A landmark Victorian report savaged the church’s handling of abuse allegations and said Cardinal Pell had shown a reluctance to acknowledge and accept responsibility for its institutional failures.
Mr Abbott, who has not read the report, said the Catholic Church was not the only institution that didn’t handle the issue well and Cardinal Pell had been the first senior cleric to act on allegations.
“I understand that these things probably did happen but I suspect it wasn’t just the church that didn’t handle these things well,” Mr Abbott told Fairfax Radio.
He said Cardinal Pell was not perfect but he was a “fine human being” and a “great churchman”.
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