AUSTRALIA
The Australian
AAP AUGUST 21, 2014
CARDINAL George Pell says the Catholic Church never anticipated the volume of complaints against paedophile priests when he launched the Melbourne archdiocese’s compensation scheme in 1996.
Dr Pell told the child abuse royal commission he expected the Melbourne Response, set up to handle claims of clergy sex abuse in the Melbourne archdiocese, would originally go for six months.
“I was aware that there were dozens of complaints that (Vicar General) Monsignor Cudmore was dealing with in, I think, an effective way under great, great pressure,” Cardinal Pell told the commission via video link from the Vatican in Rome, where he holds a senior position.
“We never anticipated the volume of responses, that it would go on for years.”
The former Melbourne archbishop said he was initially sceptical about the groups involved in advocating for the church to investigate scores of allegations of child abuse.
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