ROME
Courier
By Melissa Cunningham in Rome
March 2, 2016
Cardinal George Pell has agreed to meet with survivors of clergy sexual abuse, but victims say they have lost all faith in Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric and have made an impassioned public plea to meet Pope Francis instead.
The announcement came as Cardinal Pell concluded a third day of evidence before Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse.
Ballarat survivor Philip Nagle said victims had grown increasingly frustrated by Cardinal Pell’s failure to accept any responsibility for the sexual abuse of children at the hands of clergy and their preference was to meet the world’s most senior Catholic.
“George (Pell) is still defending the current model of the church, this model is a proven failure in protecting children against sexual abuse by their clergy,” Mr Nagle said.
“He has turned his back on us. We’re getting tired of what George is saying on the stand and we’ve only got two more days left here in Rome and we want to be heard. We want somebody to show that they care about us.”
Mr Nagle said the group of survivors wanted to hold the meeting with Pope Francis to push to implement systems to ensure children are never abused by Catholic clergy again.
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