AUSTRALIA
The Age
[with video]
June 2, 2015
Jane Lee
Ever since survivor witnesses told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that George Pell tried to bribe one, and ignored another’s reports of abuse, calls have been growing for him to return from the Vatican to Australia to explain himself.
The Commission has now said it will ask Cardinal Pell to appear as a witness when it returns to Ballarat later this year, following his repeated assurances that he is willing to do so. Below are some questions which Cardinal Pell may be asked when he does:
1. Did he attempt to bribe one survivor and ignore the child abuse reports of another?
Two survivor witnesses recounted to the commission conversations they had with George Pell about child abuse.
David Ridsdale, nephew and victim of disgraced paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, said that he called Cardinal Pell to tell him about the abuse in February 1993. He said Cardinal Pell asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet,” which he took to be an attempt to bribe him.
Timothy Green, a former student of St Patrick’s College in Ballarat said he approached then-Father Pell about widespread abuse at the school by Brother Edward Dowlan in 1974. He said Father Pell replied “don’t be ridiculous” and left the room.
Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied both claims over the years, saying he does not recall the conversations and would not have made such remarks. The commission is expected to make findings on both because they relate to the church’s response to child sexual abuse.
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