Cardinal Pell’s third time at commission

AUSTRALIA/ROME
SBS

AAP

Australian Cardinal George Pell will come under international scrutiny when he testifies, from Rome, before the Royal Commission into child sex abuse.

Catholic sex abuse victims and their supporters are now also in Rome for his appearance.

Victims remember Pell’s trucking analogy

Clergy abuse victims have not forgotten that Cardinal George Pell compared the Catholic Church to a trucking company in terms of legal responsibility.

This is Cardinal Pell’s third time at the child abuse royal commission.

The focus this time is on the Catholic Church’s handling of child sex abuse allegations in Victoria’s Diocese of Ballarat and the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Cardinal Pell was a Ballarat priest (1973-1984) and as the diocese’s episcopal vicar for education oversaw schools including St Alipius where four Christian Brothers were pedophiles.

He was one of Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns’ advisers, at a time when there were pedophile priests in the diocese and was at meetings where the appointment of priests was discussed.

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