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Here’s the story from the Daily Telegraph who has two of Pell’s greatest supporters, Devine and Bolt..I wonder what spin they will put on this.. I dare say the Royal Commission has got it wrong..blah blah.. Yet they agreed with the High Court.. Can’t pick and choose when both represent the top of their respective examinations..but they will..
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Journalist: Shannon Deery, Herald Sun
Date: Thursday 7th of May 2020
Cardinal George Pell knew children were being sexually abused by Catholic priests as early as the 1970s, the child abuse royal commission has found.
The damning finding, which contradicts persistent denials of knowledge by Cardinal Pell, has been made public today after being kept secret for more than two years.
The commission found Cardinal Pell was aware of allegations against a string of priests including Gerald Ridsdale, John Day and Ted Dowlan.
Cardinal Pell was a key witness in the commission’s probe into the Ballarat and Melbourne dioceses where he worked alongside notorious paedophiles and at times held senior positions.
But the 2017 findings, that were released just months after the Cardinal was charged with child sex offences, remained redacted until today so as not to prejudice his criminal matters.
His recent High Court acquittal cleared the way for the findings to be published in full.
The commission found Cardinal Pell must have been aware of children being abused in the Ballarat diocese from the 1970s.
In particular, it found Cardinal Pell must have been aware of the crimes of notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale, who he shared a home with for a short period in the 1970s.
The Cardinal has persistently denied knowing the extent of Ridsdale’s crimes until the 1990s.
Ridsdale has admitted abusing hundreds of children, saying he lost count of his victims.
“We are satisfied that in 1973 Father Pell turned his mind to the prudence of Ridsdale taking boys on overnight camps,” the royal commission said.
““The most likely reason for this, as Cardinal Pell acknowledged, was the possibility that if priests were one-on-one with a child then they could sexually abuse a child or at least provoke gossip about such a prospect.
“By this time, child sexual abuse was on his radar, in relation to not only Monsignor Day but also Ridsdale.
“We are also satisfied that by 1973, Cardinal Pell was not only conscious of child sexual abuse by clergy but that he also had considered measures of avoiding situations which might provoke gossip about it.”
Cardinal Pell became a consulter to Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns, who Pell claimed deceived him about the abuse crisis.
But the commission found that was unlikely.
“It does not logically follow that a bishop would deceive his appointed consultors, particularly given that it would be likely that they would find out elsewhere,” it found.
“Furthermore, given that Cardinal Pell would have been surprised if Bishop Mulkearns had deceived him, it is likely that he knew of Ridsdale’s sexual transgressions.”
While the commission was scathing of parts of Cardinal Pell’s evidence, in other areas it found in his favour.
In particular, it rejected claims he had tried to bribe the nephew of Ridsdale, David, to keep silent about his own abuse.
It also rejected claims by one witness he’d overheard Pell joke about Ridsdale with a fellow priest at a funeral mass in Ballarat, saying “Haha I think Gerry’s been rooting boys again”.
Attorney-General, Christian Porter, said the Royal Commission’s Terms of Reference required that its work did not prejudice any current or future criminal or civil proceedings. “The Commissioners delivered both a redacted and an un-redacted version of these three reports, and recommended that the full un-redacted reports be tabled and published at the conclusion of any relevant criminal proceedings,” the Attorney-General said.
“Based on advice that criminal proceedings have concluded and therefore the full version of these reports may be published, I have tabled the reports and ensured that they are fully available to the Australian public.”
Testifying to the royal commission, Cardinal Pell said he was the victim of a widespread deception, lasting decades, that kept him in the dark about child abuse.
But counsel assisting asked the commission to find he was involved in knowingly shuffling at least one paedophile priest between parishes.
Cardinal Pell has strongly denied the claims.
Pell was a Ballarat priest from 1973 until 1984, overseeing the diocese’s schools and at times acting as an adviser to the bishop.
He also served as one of the Melbourne archbishop’s advisers while an auxiliary bishop between 1987 and 1996.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Journalist: Shannon Deery, Herald Sun
Date: Thursday 7th of May 2020
Cardinal George Pell knew children were being sexually abused by Catholic priests as early as the 1970s, the child abuse royal commission has found.
The damning finding, which contradicts persistent denials of knowledge by Cardinal Pell, has been made public today after being kept secret for more than two years.
The commission found Cardinal Pell was aware of allegations against a string of priests including Gerald Ridsdale, John Day and Ted Dowlan.
Cardinal Pell was a key witness in the commission’s probe into the Ballarat and Melbourne dioceses where he worked alongside notorious paedophiles and at times held senior positions.
But the 2017 findings, that were released just months after the Cardinal was charged with child sex offences, remained redacted until today so as not to prejudice his criminal matters.
His recent High Court acquittal cleared the way for the findings to be published in full.
The commission found Cardinal Pell must have been aware of children being abused in the Ballarat diocese from the 1970s.
In particular, it found Cardinal Pell must have been aware of the crimes of notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale, who he shared a home with for a short period in the 1970s.
The Cardinal has persistently denied knowing the extent of Ridsdale’s crimes until the 1990s.
Ridsdale has admitted abusing hundreds of children, saying he lost count of his victims.
“We are satisfied that in 1973 Father Pell turned his mind to the prudence of Ridsdale taking boys on overnight camps,” the royal commission said.
““The most likely reason for this, as Cardinal Pell acknowledged, was the possibility that if priests were one-on-one with a child then they could sexually abuse a child or at least provoke gossip about such a prospect.
“By this time, child sexual abuse was on his radar, in relation to not only Monsignor Day but also Ridsdale.
“We are also satisfied that by 1973, Cardinal Pell was not only conscious of child sexual abuse by clergy but that he also had considered measures of avoiding situations which might provoke gossip about it.”
Cardinal Pell became a consulter to Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns, who Pell claimed deceived him about the abuse crisis.
But the commission found that was unlikely.
“It does not logically follow that a bishop would deceive his appointed consultors, particularly given that it would be likely that they would find out elsewhere,” it found.
“Furthermore, given that Cardinal Pell would have been surprised if Bishop Mulkearns had deceived him, it is likely that he knew of Ridsdale’s sexual transgressions.”
While the commission was scathing of parts of Cardinal Pell’s evidence, in other areas it found in his favour.
In particular, it rejected claims he had tried to bribe the nephew of Ridsdale, David, to keep silent about his own abuse.
It also rejected claims by one witness he’d overheard Pell joke about Ridsdale with a fellow priest at a funeral mass in Ballarat, saying “Haha I think Gerry’s been rooting boys again”.
Attorney-General, Christian Porter, said the Royal Commission’s Terms of Reference required that its work did not prejudice any current or future criminal or civil proceedings. “The Commissioners delivered both a redacted and an un-redacted version of these three reports, and recommended that the full un-redacted reports be tabled and published at the conclusion of any relevant criminal proceedings,” the Attorney-General said.
“Based on advice that criminal proceedings have concluded and therefore the full version of these reports may be published, I have tabled the reports and ensured that they are fully available to the Australian public.”
Testifying to the royal commission, Cardinal Pell said he was the victim of a widespread deception, lasting decades, that kept him in the dark about child abuse.
But counsel assisting asked the commission to find he was involved in knowingly shuffling at least one paedophile priest between parishes.
Cardinal Pell has strongly denied the claims.
Pell was a Ballarat priest from 1973 until 1984, overseeing the diocese’s schools and at times acting as an adviser to the bishop.
He also served as one of the Melbourne archbishop’s advisers while an auxiliary bishop between 1987 and 1996.
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