AUSTRALIA
9 News
Cardinal George Pell has admitted to the Royal Commission that he did nothing to investigate an abuse claim made against Father Ted Dowlan by a St Patrick’s schoolboy in 1973.
Cardinal Pell has always denied the claim, which was made by Peter Blenkiron, one of the survivors who travelled to Rome to watch the testimony.
The explosive admission may prove the first domino in the cardinal’s undoing after a morning that has seen a succession of lawyers go after him with especially aggressive questions.
“(Green) said something like ‘Dowlan is misbehaving with boys’,” Pell admitted.
A lawyer asked Pell whether he should have done something about it straight away.
“With the experience of 40 years later, certainly I would agree that I should have done more,” replied Pell.
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