AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph
BY ANNETTE BLACKWELL AAP MARCH 10, 2014
AUSTRALIA’S most senior Catholic Cardinal George Pell believes victims of child sex abuse should be able to sue the church.
Revealed at a hearing of the federal Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney on Monday, Cardinal Pell’s position represents a major policy change from the church.
The commission is examining the experiences of victim John Ellis who unsuccessfully pursued civil litigation against the church and Cardinal Pell for the abuse he suffered while an altar boy.
It’s been told the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney spent $1.5 million to defeat Mr Ellis’ $100,000 claim stemming from the hurt and distress he suffered at the hands of Father Aidan Duggan at Christ the King’s Church in Bass Hill, Sydney from 1974 to 1979.
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