ROME
9 News
AAP
Children were put at risk when a Victorian bishop moved a priest after a child abuse complaint, Cardinal George Pell says.
Cardinal Pell said it was unacceptable that Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns moved pedophile Gerald Francis Ridsdale between parishes, including to Inglewood in 1975, after receiving a victim’s complaint.
“It’s unacceptable because of the risk it presented to children in Inglewood and that was exacerbated by the fact it doesn’t seem as though any effort was made to withdraw Ridsdale, at least for a period, for counselling or advice or help,” he said.
The commission has heard another complaint about Ridsdale was made in Inglewood and his offending was common knowledge in the parish, but Cardinal Pell said he did not know himself.
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