AUSTRALIA
Echo Netdaily
Sydney [AAP]
Cardinal George Pell insists he acted truthfully when he instructed lawyers to vigorously dispute the claims of a sexually abused former altar boy in court, even though he knew the claims were true.
Dr Pell, appearing before the royal commission into child sexual abuse, admitted the Catholic church did not deal fairly with victim John Ellis ‘from a Christian point of view’, but in a legal sense it did nothing improper.
He said he defended the Ellis case vigorously to discourage other complainants from going to court, revealing he was worried that payments for abuse cases in the US sent some churches bankrupt and he wanted to ensure similar situations could not occur in Australia.
At the end of his second day of evidence to the commission, Dr Pell’s admissions were condemned by victims’ families.
‘We’ve seen a sociopathic lack of empathy this morning from this man,’ said Anthony Foster whose two daughters were raped by a priest in Melbourne.
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