AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Sarah Farnsworth
A lawyer for Cardinal George Pell has quizzed two victims over allegations Australia’s top Catholic offered a bribe and turned a blind eye to claims of abuse.
Cardinal Pell, now one of the Vatican’s most senior clerics, is due to give evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse next week about the church’s handling of sex abuse allegations in the Ballarat Diocese.
Ahead of his highly anticipated appearance, Pell’s lawyer Sam Duggan cross-examined abuse victim David Ridsdale over his allegations the Cardinal tried to bribe him to stay quiet about abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle, Gerald Ridsdale.
Mr Ridsdale has previously said he called then Bishop Pell in 1993 and told him about the abuse.
Under questioning, Mr Duggan put to Mr Ridsdale that the conversation never happened.
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