ROME
RTE News
The Vatican’s finance controller, Cardinal George Pell, has dismissed accusations he sexually abused boys during his time as a priest which are reportedly being investigated by Australian police.
A statement issued by the cardinal’s office in Rome said: “The allegations are without foundation and utterly false”.
The Melbourne-based Herald Sun newspaper has reported that a police taskforce in the state of Victoria have been investigating Cardinal Pell for the last year over allegations that he abused between five and ten boys.
Details of the inquiry emerged a week before he is due to give evidence by video link to an Australian inquiry into abuse by priests in the town of Ballarat, near Melbourne.
The 74-year-old Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy of the Holy See has been criticised for saying he is too ill to make the journey home to testify in person over alleged cover-ups during his time as the head of Australia’s Catholic hierarchy.
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