ROME
ABC News
A man whose two daughters were raped by a priest has confronted George Pell, telling him “I am a broken man” after the Cardinal’s second day of testimony via video link to the child abuse royal commission.
Cardinal Pell faced the commission from a Rome hotel, drawing gasps from survivors as he declared the crimes of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale were a “sad story” but “not of much interest” to him at the time.
Anthony Foster’s daughters Emma and Katie were raped by Melbourne priest Father Kevin O’Donnell when they were in primary school in the 1980s.
Mr Foster confronted Cardinal Pell outside the hearing at the Hotel Quirinale, saying he had given up hope the Cardinal would fix the church’s so-called Melbourne Response to the abuse scandal.
“He held my hand for the whole duration of the chat that we had and I expressed to him that he was holding the hand of a broken man, and he put his other hand on me and tried to I suppose connect in some way, but I didn’t feel it,” Mr Foster said.
“Quest over. It was the smooth Cardinal Pell, not the Cardinal Pell we saw on the stand.”
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