VATICAN CITY
Herald Sun
Ellen Whinnett in Rome, News Corp Australia Network
February 12, 2017
CARDINAL George Pell has declined to discuss the progress of a police investigation into allegations of sexual abuse made against him.
News Corp Australia spoke to Cardinal Pell outside his home on the edge of St Peter’s Square at the Vatican in Rome.
He declined to comment, and another priest who spoke on his behalf said the Cardinal had considered his position and decided it was inappropriate to make public comments from Rome while the royal commission into the Catholic Church’s response to clergy abuse was continuing in Australia.
The priest, from Ireland, also gave News Corp Australia a copy of a statement issued by the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, which had condemned a Greens motion passed through the Senate last week calling for Cardinal Pell to return to Australia to face the royal commission.
Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal Pell was appointed by Pope Francis in 2014 to the role of Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, where he oversees the Vatican’s vast finances.
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