AUSTRALIA
ABC News
Child abuse claims in Victoria since 1996 have cost the Catholic Church more than $34 million, an inquiry has heard.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is investigating the church’s so-called Melbourne response to allegations of child sexual abuse by its clergy.
The scheme was introduced by Cardinal Pell when he was Melbourne’s archbishop in 1996, and was a first of its kind.
It allowed anyone allegedly abused by priests or others under the authority of the archbishop to have what the church called “an independent commissioner” to investigate their claims and make findings.
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