Melbourne Archbishop to discuss removing abuse victim payment cap

AUSTRALIA
ABC – AM

ELIZABETH JACKSON: The parents of two abuse victims say they want the Catholic Church to act urgently to remove a cap on payment to abuse victims.

Anthony and Chrissie Foster say Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, this week personally promised them that the $75,000 cap would be abolished.

But the couple say they have heard nothing from the Archbishop of Melbourne, the man responsible for actually making the change.

Cardinal Pell this week publicly apologised to a victim of child sexual abuse, saying the Catholic Church failed in its moral and pastoral responsibilities.

Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: It was the news Anthony and Chrissie Foster had been waiting for for 18 years; that the Catholic Church would remove the cap on payments to victims of child sexual abuse.

It now stands at $75,000.

Anthony Foster says he got a commitment from Cardinal George Pell during a meeting on Thursday night.

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