AUSTRALIA
ABC News
[with audio]
During a third day of questioning of Cardinal George Pell at the royal commission, the departing Sydney Archbishop defended the Church’s decision to take ‘every proper legal defence,’ but he conceded the courtroom tactics were hurtful to abuse victim John Ellis. He denied that the Church put its own financial interests ahead of Mr Ellis’s needs. But he issued a personal and public apology to the man who first suffered at the hands of an abusive priest and then spent years of his life fighting the Church in court.
pics: child-abuse, catholic, royal-commissions, melbourne-3000, australia
Transcript
MARK COLVIN: The Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell finished giving evidence at the child abuse royal commission today. But despite his new job in the Vatican, it was au revoir rather than adieu.
And before he went, the Cardinal issued a personal and public apology to the abuse victim John Ellis whose case has dominated events at the commission this week.
It was the Archbishop’s third day trying to explain how and why the Church took such a hard line over so many years against Mr Ellis.
Despite the apology, Cardinal Pell defended the Church’s decision to take “every proper legal defence”. And he denied that the Sydney Archdiocese had put its own financial interests ahead of Mr Ellis’s needs.
The commission has also been told that without significant changes to the Church’s legal structure and insurance policies, abuse victims will continue to face a labyrinthine process of trying to seek justice through the courts and compensation from the Church.
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