Australian cardinal denies deflecting child sex abuse blame
Cardinal says should have done more to stop Aussie pedophile
(about 20 hours later)
CANBERRA, Australia — Interrupted by jeers from observers, one of Pope Francis’ top advisers on Tuesday denied an accusation that his testimony to an inquiry into child sex abuse was an attempt to deflect blame for the Catholic Church transferring Australia’s worst pedophile priest from parish to parish.
CANBERRA, Australia — One of Pope Francis’ top advisers told an Australian inquiry on Wednesday that he should have done more to ensure a suspected pedophile cleric did not continue to abuse children.
Australian Cardinal George Pell was a priest in the 1970s in the town of Ballarat where he advised Bishop Ronald Mulkearns about the placement of priests within the diocese.
Australian Cardinal George Pell told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse this week that as an assistant priest in the Australian city of Ballarat in the 1970s, he had heard rumors that a local Christian Brothers school teacher Edward Dowlan could be involved in “pedophilia activity.”
Pell, now the pope’s top financial adviser, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he had no idea that priest Gerald Ridsdale was repeatedly transferred by the bishop for more than a decade because of pedophile accusations.
Pell testified that he raised his concerns with the St. Patricks’ College chaplain who told Pell that the Christian Brothers order was “dealing with” the allegations. Dowlan was later removed from the school.
Pell rejected an accusation made by the lead counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, that his answers were designed to remove his own responsibility for Ridsdale’s crimes.
Pell, now the pope’s top financial adviser, told the inquiry on Wednesday that he should have “ensured that the matter was properly treated.”
“My answers were designed to answer your questions accurately and completely,” Pell told the Sydney inquiry via videolink from a Rome hotel.
“I would say that in the light of my present understanding, ... I would concede I should have done more,” Pell told the inquiry in Sydney via videolink from a Rome hotel.
Asked if he accepted any responsibility of Ridsdale’s repeated transfers within the Ballarat diocese, Pell replied: “No, I don’t.”
“I regret that I didn’t do more at that stage,” Pell added.
The royal commission — which is Australia’s highest form of investigation — is investigating how Pell dealt with abuse allegations as a priest, educator and adviser to Mulkearns, as well as how the Melbourne archdiocese responded to allegations of abuse, including when Pell served as a Melbourne auxiliary bishop.
The royal commission — which is Australia’s highest form of investigation — is investigating how Pell dealt with abuse allegations as a priest, educator and adviser to the Ballarat bishop, as well as how the Melbourne archdiocese responded to allegations of abuse, including when Pell served as a Melbourne auxiliary bishop.
Tuesday was the second day of evidence for the 74-year-old cleric, who because of ill health could not travel to Australia to give evidence in person at the inquiry into decades of child abuse.
Pell has repeatedly denied allegations that he ignored warnings that Dowlan was abusing students. Dowlan was sentenced to six years in prison last year for abusing 20 boys.
On Monday, Pell dubbed Mulkearns’ handling of Ridsdale a “catastrophe for the church.” He said Mulkearns was a prime candidate for the Vatican’s proposed tribunal for negligent bishops, although there is no indication the elderly Mulkearns would stand trial by the time the tribunal is operational.
Pell told the inquiry he did not believe it was appropriate to relocate suspected pedophile clerics and allow them to continue abusing different children.
Commission chairman Peter McClellan asked Pell on Tuesday whether it was surprising that he hadn’t heard rumors about the scandal Ridsdale had created in the diocese.
“I don’t believe that now and I didn’t believe that then. My whole assumption ... was that the brothers would be dealing adequately with the matter,” Pell said.
“Not necessarily, given the work I was doing,” Pell said. “I wasn’t working full-time in the diocese.”
“I was not aware then of their poor record, which I learnt about later, in dealing with such things. I presumed that when they shifted him they would have also arranged for some appropriate help,” he added.
Furness said that as an adviser to the bishop — one of a group of Ballarat priests known as the College of Consultors — Pell should have questioned why Ridsdale was frequently transferred.
Pell said that “when I was told that they were dealing with it at that time, I was quite content.”
“I was happy to take the bishop’s word that it was appropriate for him to be shifted,” Pell said.
Wednesday was the 74-year-old cleric’s third day of testifying to the inquiry, which is investigating decades of abuse within churches and a variety of other organizations.
“Gentle and euphemistic language ... was regularly used by Bishop Mulkearns on these occasions, so that some of us were kept in the dark,” he said.
Two dozen Australian abuse victims and their companions traveled across the globe to witness Pell’s testimony in a hotel conference room, a significant show of accountability in the church’s long-running abuse saga.
Pell accompanied Ridsdale to court in 1993 when the pedophile faced his first child molesting charges. He was convicted in 1993, 2006 and 2013 with sexually abusing more than 50 children.
One those victims, David Ridsdale, said Pell had never before conceded that he should have done more to prevent abuse in Ballarat.
Pell told the royal commission said Mulkearns’ refusal to act on the allegations against Ridsdale was extraordinary.
The victims announced on Wednesday that they had requested a meeting with the pope before they return to Australia on Friday.
“Unfortunately, I would have to say that I can’t nominate another bishop whose actions are so grave and inexplicable,” Pell said.
Pell agreed with McClellan that even if a priest did not have a legal responsibility to stop Ridsdale’s crimes, a priest would have a moral responsibility to do whatever he could to prevent such abuses.
“I think that is a reasonable proposition,” Pell said.
The Royal Commission in December accepted medical advice that 85-year-old Mulkearns was dying and was unfit to testify. He was Ballarat’s bishop from 1971 until he retired in 1997.
The bishop’s former adviser, priest John McKinnon, told the Royal Commission in December that Mulkearns was “profoundly sorry” for relocating suspected pedophile priests, but could no longer remember details.
Ballarat, Pell’s hometown, has been devastated by disclosures about the huge number of abuse victims, scores of whom killed themselves in a cluster of abuse-related suicides.
Two dozen Australian abuse survivors and their companions traveled across the globe to witness Pell’s testimony in a hotel conference room, a significant show of accountability in the church’s long-running abuse saga.
Pell said priests didn’t discuss with him the allegations against Ridsdale.
Pell’s testimony was interrupted by jeers from the public gallery as he explained the moral framework in which priests live.
“We work within a framework of Christian moral teaching, or certainly we should, and discussion of the secret faults of others is not encouraged,” Pell said.
Furness told Pell that Ridsdale’s crimes were not “secret,” since they were common knowledge in the towns of Apollo Bay and Inglewood where Ridsdale had been the parish priest and police had reported their suspicions to the church.
Pell said he had not known the sexual abuse was common knowledge in Inglewood.
“I didn’t know whether it was common knowledge or whether it wasn’t. It’s a sad story and it wasn’t of much interest to me,” Pell said, bringing audible gasps and jeers from the public gallery.
Andrew Collins, a clergy abuse victim from Ballarat, said outside the Rome hotel that he found Pell’s denials of any knowledge of pedophilia allegations against Ridsdale “ absolutely unbelievable.”
“He’s always been seen as an ambitious man and ambitious people have knowledge. They crave knowledge,” Collins told reporters.
“They know everything that’s going on and he wouldn’t be in the position he was today if he was the sort of person who sat back and didn’t pay attention to what was going on,” he added.
Before Pell’s testimony on Tuesday, he told reporters: “I’ve got the full backing of the pope.”
The Vatican said a private audience Pell had with the pope on Monday was a long-scheduled appointment related to Pell’s duties as Holy See finance minister, and had nothing to do with the abuse hearings.
Pell will testify for a third four-hour session late on Tuesday Rome time.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
