ROME
Xinhuanet
Source: Xinhua 2017-07-01
Editor: Mu Xuequan
ROME, June 30 (Xinhua) — Clergy sexual abuse survivor Marie Collins told Italian newspaper La Repubblica in an interview Friday that the placing on leave of Cardinal George Pell, a senior adviser to Pope Francis, had “come too late.”
The Pope placed Pell on leave Thursday, after the Cardinal announced at a Vatican press conference that he was leaving to fight sexual assault charges in Australia.
In an official statement, the Vatican Press Office said Thursday that the Vatican “has learned with regret the news of charges filed in Australia against Card. George Pell for decades-old actions that have been attributed to him.”
“The Holy Father, having been informed by Card. Pell, has granted the cardinal a leave of absence so he can defend himself,” the Vatican press statement said.
In 2014, Pope Francis appointed Pell as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, a powerful post in the Vatican.
“His nomination…was a slap in the face to Australian victims first, and then to those in the (Catholic) Church who combat pedophilia,” said Collins, who was sexually abused by Catholic priests as a child in the 1960s, according to her foundation’s website.
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