Australian church abuse victims return dismayed by Pope snub

Australian victims of child sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church returned home on Sunday disappointed they did not meet Pope Francis and angry with the evidence a senior Vatican official gave to an inquiry investigating the abuse. The Vatican said it did not grant a meeting with the group of about 15 abuse victims because they had not made their request through the proper channels while they were in Rome to observe Cardinal George Pell testify. Pell, who is now the Vatican’s treasurer, became the highest ranking Vatican official to give testimony on the issue of systemic abuse within the church.

Cardinal Pell must be accorded the appropriate acknowledgement for his dignified and coherent personal testimony…

Vatican chief spokesman Federico Lombardi

His evidence to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse on cases involving hundreds of children in Australia from the 1960s to the 1990s has taken on wider implications about the accountability of church leaders. “The simple fact is it’s the pope’s loss,” abuse survivor David Ridsdale told reporters at Melbourne airport regarding the lack of a meeting. Victims groups have rejected Pell’s responses as inadequate, but Vatican chief spokesman Federico Lombardi released a statement supporting the cardinal. Pell told the inquiry that the Church had made “enormous mistakes” and “catastrophic” choices by refusing to believe abused children, shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish and over-relying on the counselling of priests to solve the problem.

Cardinal Pell