ROME
Sydney Morning Herald
February 29, 2016
Nick Miller
You would not find a more remarkable bunch of blokes than this group from Ballarat.
They are survivors of horrible sexual abuse, scarred for life, in varying states of health, but drawing on such deep wells of strength that up they came, in the teeth of a storm, to the Hotel Quirinale to face the third most powerful man in the church that betrayed and abandoned them.
Thunder and lightning cracked overhead, fat drops of Mediterranean winter rain bounced off the cobbles around them, serried media spotlights swung their way.
And they calmly said their pieces, posed for the flashes, and trooped into the opulent depths of the Quirinale.
The contrast couldn’t be stronger to Cardinal George Pell’s arrival, several hours earlier. As his car swung up to the hotel’s side entrance, a TV camera and reporter were waiting – the networks had pooled their resources to make sure he couldn’t go in unseen.
But a group of burly Italian security guards roughly pushed the journalists back – it was unclear on whose orders: Cardinal Pell later denied they were his team, blaming Italian police.
He then disappeared up to his room on the fifth floor, where rumour has it he will dwell until the hearing is over – except when he takes the stand.
It may not be quite the Vatican style that Cardinal Pell is used to but he’s not roughing it.
Rome specialises in luxurious locations. It’s kind of its thing.
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