VATICAN CITY
Bangkok Post
AFP
VATICAN CITY – Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell on Friday dismissed accusations he sexually abused boys during his time as a priest which are reportedly being investigated by Australian police.
“The allegations are without foundation and utterly false,” a statement issued by Pell’s office in Rome said after the Melbourne-based Herald Sun newspaper reported that a police taskforce in the state of Victoria have been investigating Pell for the last year over allegations that he abused between five and 10 boys.
Details of the probe emerged a week before Pell 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 cardinal has been derided 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.
He has always denied knowing about any abuse in Ballarat. In his statement he attacked the leaking of details of the ongoing investigation to the Herald Sun as malicious and the allegations against him as spurious.
“The timing of these leaks is clearly designed to do maximum damage to the cardinal and the Catholic Church and undermines the work of the Royal Commission,” the statement said.
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