ROME/AUSTRALIA
Global Post
Agence France-Presse
Feb 17, 2016
Vatican finance chief George Pell Thursday said he was ready to meet with child sex abuse victims after an outcry over his decision not to appear in person at an Australian inquiry.
Pell, an Australian, was due at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in the town of Ballarat, northwest of Melbourne, later this month but will give evidence via video-link from Rome instead, citing illness.
He has always denied knowing of any child abuse occurring in Ballarat, where he was once based, including by paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, who abused dozens of children over two decades.
The former Archbishop of Sydney’s decision to testify remotely sparked a crowdfunding campaign this week to send 15 victims to Rome to witness him giving evidence.
It has so far raised more than Aus$176,000 (US$126,000), easily surpassing the original Aus$55,000 target.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.