Cardinal admits ‘scandalous’ response to abuse allegations

One of Pope Francis’ top advisers acknowledged he had heard that an Australian Catholic school teacher who serially abused students might be involved in “pedophilia activity” in the 1970s, but said he had no idea how rampant clergy abuse was at the time. During an extraordinary public hearing of an Australian investigative commission just a few blocks from the Vatican, Australian Cardinal George Pell also conceded that the Catholic Church “has made enormous mistakes” in allowing thousands of children to be raped and molested by priests. Two dozen Australian abuse survivors and their companions travelled across the globe to witness Pell’s testimony in a Rome hotel’s conference room, a significant show of accountability in the church’s long-running abuse saga.

I’m not here to defend the indefensible. The church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those.

Cardinal George Pell

But Cardinal Pell, who testified via videolink from Rome to the Royal Commission in Sydney, also acknowledged that he too had made mistakes in often believing the priests over victims who alleged abuse. “I must say in those days, if a priest denied such activity, I was very strongly inclined to accept the denial,” Cardinal Pell said. He has been accused of ignoring warnings when he was an assistant priest about Christian Brother Edward Dowlan, who was jailed last year for six years for abusing 20 boys.

I would agree that it was known to all the people whom you’ve mentioned, and they do constitute a significant number.

Cardinal Pell admits many knew of the abuse allegations

George Pell