AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
CARDINAL George Pell is alleged to have told a fellow cleric that notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was “r–ting boys again”, according to contested evidence before the royal commission.
In 1983, the then rising priest in the Catholic Church was allegedly overheard making the comment to Father Frank Madden at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat a decade before Ridsdale was first charged.
A witness, identified only as BWE, yesterday told the commission he was an altar boy, aged about 12, when he overheard Fr Madden ask the visiting Fr Pell, “how’s everything down your way?”.
“George Pell responded by saying, ‘I think Gerry’s been r–ting boys again’,” BWE said.
But Cardinal Pell’s lawyer, Sam Duggan, put it to BWE the conversation 32 years ago was “pure fantasy” and was not supported because Ridsdale had been moved to NSW at the time — a claim denied by BWE.
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