AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher, article updated 19 February 2016

Cardinal George Pell makes frequent trips away from his Rome headquarters. For example, in March-April 2015, he made a secret trip by air to Australia, and then he returned to Rome in time to “appear” by video-link (instead of really appearing in person) for a public hearing of Australia’s national child-abuse Royal Commission a few weeks later (in May 2015). The Commissioners had approved Pell’s May 2015 video-link because of the long distance if Pell had to fly to Australia from Rome. The Commissioners did not know of Pell’s recent secret trip but the trip became known by the time of the May 2015 hearing. And Pell’s video-link in May 2015 turned out to be a technological disaster. The Commissioners then asked Pell to appear in person at his next scheduled public hearing in Australia (in…