ROME
Mercury
CARDINAL Pell was accused of “designing” his evidence to deflect blame during the third day of testimony in which the “extraordinary world of crimes and cover ups” within the Catholic Church were exposed.
The Vatican treasurer told the Royal Commission he had been deceived on multiple occasions in different parts of the country over sex offending priests operating in country parishes.
Pell said he was never told the full extent of convicted pedophile Father Peter Searson’s activities in Doveton – a parish in his region as auxiliary bishop – where he was accused of pointing a gun at people, stabbing a bird with a screwdriver, tape recording confessions and forcing a child to kneel between his legs during confession.
The Cardinal claimed he had investigated the claims to the best of his ability but information was deliberately withheld by the Catholic Education Office and Archbishop Frank Little, who had been described as having a “blind spot” when it came to Searson.
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.