AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
June 1, 2015
Jane Lee
Cardinal George Pell will be asked to give evidence at the second royal commission into child sexual abuse in Ballarat later this year.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse made the announcement on Monday afternoon. Commission chair, Justice Peter McClellan, had received Cardinal Pell’s letter, which indicated that he was prepared to come to Australia to give evidence if required.
“The royal commission will ask him to give evidence in the second of the Ballarat hearings,” said the statement.
The first Ballarat hearing, which focused on survivors and the impact of child sexual abuse on the community, ended on Friday. The date for the second Ballarat hearing has not yet been fixed.
The commission said it would ordinarily summon witnesses to appear. “However a person resident overseas cannot be summonsed,” the statement said.
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