AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph
Cardinal Pell will be called this week to give evidence at royal commission into child sex abuse
JANET FIFE-YEOMANS THE DAILY TELEGRAPH MARCH 10, 2014
* Pell will be asked about ‘legal brick wall’ church use to protect itself against victims’ claims
THE nation’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, will be called this week to give evidence at the royal commission into child sex abuse about the legal brick wall the church used to protect itself against victims’ claims.
The Catholic Church is notorious for hiding behind what is known as the “Ellis defence’’, a NSW Court of Appeal ruling that means the church does not exist as a legal entity that is capable of being sued.
It is understood there has not been a single court judgment against the Catholic Church anywhere in Australia, although numerous cases have been settled out of court. The commission, sitting in Sydney, will investigate the case of former altar boy John Ellis who was sexually abused from the age of 14 by a priest in the Bass Hill parish in western Sydney in the 1970s.
Mr Ellis, now a solicitor, lost his case to sue Cardinal Pell, the former Archbishop of Sydney, and the Archdiocese of Sydney in the landmark ruling. The court ruled church trustees were liable for land and buildings but not for the behaviour of bishops they appointed.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.