AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Editorial

The royal commission has excused George Pell from appearing in person to answer questions connected to how the Catholic Church dealt with the abuse of children in the diocese of Ballarat – but this week he faced the music nevertheless. A catchy, pull-no-punches ditty from multi-talented performer Tim Minchin challenged him to get on a plane to answer the commission’s questions in person and called him a coward for not making the trip.

It helped raise $190,000 in four days to send survivors of abuse to Rome with the hope they can sit in on the cardinal’s testimony when he gives it by video link later this month. Their desire is simple: they want the cardinal, whose doctors have given evidence he is too ill to fly back to Australia, to face the same conditions as they did when appearing before the commission.

But…