ROME
ABC News
By London bureau chief Lisa Millar
Cardinal George Pell’s testimony to the royal commission in Rome left abuse survivors slightly mollified, but ultimately unconvinced. Lisa Millar reports from the Hotel Quirinale.
After so much anticipation, it was hardly surprising that the hearing began in such a dramatic fashion.
Three hours before his evidence was due to start, Cardinal George Pell was driven to the side entrance of the Hotel Quirinale, where a cameraman and reporter trying to film his arrival were treated roughly by security.
The scuffle threatened to overshadow the start of this unusual session.
The Royal Commission has heard from witnesses before via videolink, but never under these kind of circumstances — in a hotel on the other side of the world, with 120 people in the audience who were not seen or heard from because of a ban on filming or photographs.
They remarked that Cardinal Pell had not acknowledged them as he entered the room. His mind was probably focused on the table on the side where he sat facing a video screen.
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