Cardinal George Pell calls child abuse allegations a smear campaign

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Guardian staff
Wednesday 27 July 2016

A Victoria police taskforce has reportedly been investigating Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic and a top Vatican official, for more than a year and has referred child abuse allegations to prosecutors.

Pell has consistently denied the allegations and said claims he abused young children in Victoria are “totally untrue and completely wrong”.

The ABC has reported police are investigating multiple allegations of abuse by Pell in Ballarat, Torquay and Melbourne.

Pell’s office has made a statement to the ABC denying the allegations and describing them as “nothing more than a scandalous smear campaign”.

“If there was any credibility in any of these claims, they would have been pursued by the royal commission by now,” the statement said.

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