Focus on abuse prosecutions: victims group

AUSTRALIA
SBS

Broken Rites is not expecting much out of the highly-anticipated appearance of Cardinal George Pell and a former bishop at the child abuse inquiry.

Source: AAP

The greatest impact of the child abuse royal commission will be in prosecuting more offenders, an advocate for victims of pedophile priests says.

Cardinal George Pell and a bishop who knew about clergy sexually abusing children in Victoria’s Ballarat diocese will front the commission’s public hearing later this year.

It is what victims wanted but advocacy group Broken Rites founder Chris Wilding is sceptical Cardinal Pell will shed any further light on widespread abuse over decades in the Victorian diocese.

She also doubts former Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns will reveal the full extent of what he knew, despite the commission hearing that he presided over pedophile priests being moved between parishes.

“I had great hopes for the royal commission that we would at last get some shred of truth,” she told AAP.

“But I just don’t see it happening.”

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