AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
March 8, 2016
Josephine Tovey
Reporter
One of the most influential newspapers in the United States, The Washington Post, has devoted an editorial to Australian Cardinal George Pell’s appearance at the royal commission last week, noting his “stumbles” and condemning some of his testimony for seeking to “airbrush the church’s staggering lapses.”
The newspaper’s editorial board told its readers that on the same day the film Spotlight, which depicts an investigation into abusive priests in Boston’s Catholic church, was awarded the Oscar for Best Picture, a “related drama” was taking place in the Vatican, as Australia’s most senior Catholic gave testimony to a commission back in Australia.
The Post stated that while Cardinal George Pell stayed mostly “on message” during his appearances before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, he “stumbled” at several moments, and in doing so, revealed “the shortcomings in the church’s response to revelations of misconduct.”
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