UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
One of the single most important lessons I have learned in following closely the Vatican’s scandals for over five years is that you cannot really trust Vatican officials’ statements as the “full truth so help me God!”
This was just evident in a recent investigative TV report about Cardinal George Pell. Peter Saunders, a member of the pope’s abuse commission, as well as a parent and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by two priests, spoke about the pope’s shameful top financial aide, Cardinal Pell, in a remarkable interview here on Australia’s 60 Minutes.
In the 60 Minutes segment, two video excerpts of Pell’s testimony on a key fact are shown. Pell makes a denial in an informal 2002 60 Minutes interview of a significant fact relating to a young abuse victim who committed suicide. In the second video in 2013, apparently under oath before a parliamentary investigation commission, with serious legal consequences for false statements, Pell “suddenly” remembered the significant fact and appears to have reversed himself completely.
Pell’s seemingly long history of denials include his acknowledgement in 2013 that he had “probably” been shown a photograph of the slashed wrists of the child abuse victim, after he previously indicated inn 2002 that he had never seen it. The victim’s parents had earlier shown Pell the photo of their daughter Emma, who was abused by Fr. Kevin O’Donnell. These parents’ other daughter, Katie, was also a victim of this priest. Emma went on to take her own life in 2008.
In a 2002 interview with 60 Minutes reporter, Richard Carleton, Pell denied he had ever seen the picture of the slashed wrists, before changing his position two years ago. In his recent slippery response, Pell stated, “Probably, but let’s put this in context. Now we know that was an attempted suicide, you’ve got to understand, this was a…. the production of this photo was something sudden, I didn’t have a chance for a considered response.”
Right! Why would anyone expect Pell to remember a picture of the slashed writs of a priest child abuse victim shown to him by upset parents? If the pope wants to maintain even a prayer of credibility on curtailing priest child abuse and on holding Church leaders accountable, Pell must go pronto!
Pope Francis appealingly called on Catholics to “create a mess” but, instead, by his slick approach, he has paradoxically created his own expanding mess, which may be his last as pope! Many lifetime indoctrinated Catholics may behave as “dumb sheep” at times; I did, but few of them in the Internet Age remain as “blind sheep”.
Until now, the Vatican has mostly avoided various national prosecutors. The pope and his high priced consultants and lawyers have also so far buried the financial scandals in over hyped committees that he still controls unaccountably, most significantly with no public audits of the Vatican’s own wealth even on the horizon.
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