{"id":19228,"date":"2016-02-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/uncategorized\/cardinal-george-pell-says-he-is-not-defending-the-indefensible\/"},"modified":"2016-02-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-28T00:00:00","slug":"cardinal-george-pell-says-he-is-not-defending-the-indefensible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/news\/cardinal-george-pell-says-he-is-not-defending-the-indefensible\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal George Pell says he is “not defending the indefensible”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cardinal George Pell has begun giving evidence to the child abuse royal commission for the third time, saying the church in Australia has “mucked things up”.<\/h3>\n

The cardinal, who was too ill to return to Australia for questioning, is testifying via videolink from the Hotel Quirinale in Rome in front of a group of survivors from Ballarat.<\/p>\n

Before giving evidence, he swore on the Bible that he would tell the truth.<\/p>\n

He will be questioned over three to four days about what he knew of historic pedophile activity by priests when he served in Ballarat and Melbourne.<\/p>\n

First up, he detailed his role at the Vatican, describing it as “something equivalent to a treasurer” but would not concur that he held the third most senior position in the church.<\/p>\n

\"Cardinal<\/p>\n

Cardinal George Pell testifies via videolink from Rome | Image | Twitter<\/h6>\n

“I wouldn’t say it was. People like to make these hypothetical lists. Some people would see the financial affairs of the Vatican as very low on the list,” he said.<\/h3>\n

“I’m a senior official in the Roman curia.”<\/p>\n

He was then asked about financing of compensation for victims of clergy abuse.<\/p>\n

He said he had given advice, as one of the nine cardinals on an informal council advising the pope, prior to the establishment of the pontifical commission for the protection of minors in March 2014.<\/p>\n

Cardinal Pell, under questioning, said child sex abuse had been an issue for centuries.<\/p>\n

“The church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those but the church in many places, certainly in Australia, has mucked things up, has let people down,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’m not here to defend the indefensible.”<\/p>\n

He said the church in Australia had put in place procedures 20 years ago, namely the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing.<\/p>\n

The problems in the church were not down to a “few bad apples” or the structure of the church.<\/p>\n

“I think the faults overwhelmingly have been more personal faults, personal failures rather than structures,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Let me remind you that the reforms in ’96\/’97 occurred within the old structures.”<\/p>\n

Cardinal Pell said he had studied the royal commission’s report on redress for survivors.<\/p>\n

“I would like to see a national system of redress which could be accessed by the churches and one in which the culpable parties would contribute to the payment of whatever the findings were,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It would clearly show that such payments are not dependent on the decisions of the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

“No matter how fair and independent an agency funded by the church might be, there’s always the danger that it will be found to be subservient.”<\/p>\n

The commission then began discussing his life and career in Ballarat.<\/p>\n

Around 180 people, made up largely of abuse survivors, clergy and journalists, filled the conference room to watch Cardinal Pell give his evidence.<\/p>\n

He was seated at the front, facing a screen where he could view the commissioners in Sydney.<\/p>\n

At the front of the room a larger screen showed the audience the commissioners.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Sunday, Cardinal Pell had attended mass in Rome. He also released a statement saying that he was willing to meet with survivors in Rome if they wanted that.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: 16-YEAR-OLD WINS EVERY TEEN\u2019S DREAM \u2013 BUT IS IT APPROPRIATE?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: AFL GREAT TALKS BOTTOM FOUR FOR PORT ADELAIDE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cardinal George Pell has begun giving evidence to the child abuse royal commission for the third time, saying the church in Australia has “mucked things up”. The cardinal, who was too ill to return to Australia for questioning, is testifying via videolink from the Hotel Quirinale in Rome in front of a group of survivors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[],"geo_market":[],"class_list":["post-19228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCardinal George Pell says he is "not defending the indefensible" - FIVEAA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/news\/cardinal-george-pell-says-he-is-not-defending-the-indefensible\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cardinal George Pell says he is "not defending the indefensible"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cardinal George Pell has begun giving evidence to the child abuse royal commission for the third time, saying the church in Australia has “mucked things up”. 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