ROME
SBS
Facing questioning from sex abuse victims’ lawyers on his fourth day on the stand in Rome, Cardinal Pell has again denied asking a nephew and victim of pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale what it would take to keep him quiet.
David Ridsdale has told the commission when he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 he had been abused by his uncle, the then Melbourne bishop asked him: “I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”
Cardinal Pell said he felt sorry for Ridsdale, but repeatedly denied the claim, which he did again before the commission on Thursday.
Mr Ridsdale’s lawyer Stephen Odgers SC asked: “Was it the case that you didn’t have much interest in what David Ridsdale told you about the crimes of Gerald Ridsdale?”
Cardinal Pell replied: “That’s completely untrue and David has never claimed that.”
Asked if his primary interest was to protect the church, Cardinal Pell said “not in the slightest”.
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