Pell: Church not calling police was “general practice”

ROME
Daily Examiner

CARDINAL George Pell has admitted the church had a “general practice” of not calling the police when it learned of sexual assaults, instinctually acting to protect the institution ahead of victims.

Cardinal Pell was being asked about his views — given in the 1980s — that the church generally did not believe children when they made these allegations.

The Cardinal said he believes those were now an “over-statement” but conceded that children were often not listened to.

He said there was no formal policy to dismiss such allegations but unofficially, “sometimes they were dismissed in absolutely scandalous circumstances”.

These were when victims made “very, very,very plausible allegations made by responsible people that were not followed up sufficiently”.

Cardinal Pell said the instinct of many was to protect the church and its community “from shame”.

When asked if there was a tendency not to refer such incidents to police, Cardinal Pell said it was “general practice” but that people were not prevented or impeded “but they were certainly rarely encouraged”.

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