Cardinal Pell speaks out: ‘Child abuse is a cancer in the church’
In an exclusive TV interview to be aired on Sky News tonight, Cardinal George Pell says he was ashamed of crimes committed by members of the church, comparing them to a cancer that had to be cut out, as he faces a new child abuse investigation.
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Cardinal George Pell is ashamed of how the Catholic Church has dealt with systemic child sexual abuse in the past and says he “totally condemns” paedophiles.
But the embattled former Vatican treasurer, who last week had his conviction for historical sexual abuse overturned, has warned against the pendulum swinging the other way so that accusers are always believed.
LATEST: Freed George Pell faces new abuse claims days after being acquitted
Days after walking free after winning a High Court appeal, the 78-year-old has provided an insight into his time behind bars, including how he found support from a convicted murderer.
In an exclusive TV interview to be aired on Sky News on Tuesday, Dr Pell said he was ashamed of crimes committed by members of the church and ashamed the issue had been treated “inadequately”.
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“It was very bad,” he told host Andrew Bolt.
“Hopefully we got rid of it. It was like a cancer. We had to cut it out.”
In 2018, a Melbourne jury convicted Dr Pell on five charges relating to the abuse of two 13-year-old choirboys after Sunday mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996 and 1997.
The charges included one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four charges of committing an act of indecency with or in the presence of a child under 16.
Dr Pell was the Archbishop of Melbourne at the time and the abuse was alleged to have happened in or near the priests’ sacristy.
He was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria to six years in jail.
Last year he appealed the decision in Victoria’s Court of Appeal, which dismissed the appeal in a majority verdict.
Dr Pell then took his appeal to the High Court.
In a unanimous decision, the bench of the High Court granted Dr Pell leave to appeal and quashed his convictions on all five charges on Tuesday.
The bench found that assuming the jury had assessed the complainant’s evidence as “thoroughly credible and reliable”, evidence from other witnesses required the jury to have “entertained a reasonable doubt” as to Dr Pell’s guilt.
Dr Pell, the most senior Catholic in the world to be found guilty of child sex offences, walked free from Barwon prison southwest of Melbourne on the same day.
He left Victoria on Wednesday and was driven north to Sydney, making a stop at Goulburn Police Station to complain about the media following him.
While he was “still a bit flat” following his release, Dr Pell said he was not angry.
“I have no anger or hostility towards my complainant,” he said.
In response to the acquittal, the complainant released a statement saying he understood the High Court’s view regarding the lack of evidence, but encouraged other victims of sexual abuse to keep coming forward.
“It is difficult in child sexual abuse matters to satisfy a criminal court that the offending has occurred beyond the reasonable doubt,” he wrote.
Dr Pell had spent more than 12 months in prison, where he said he was befriended by three or four inmates, including a convicted murderer.
Dr Pell described hearing the anger and anguish of ice-addicted inmates.
GEORGE PELL WORLD-FIRST EXCLUSIVE TV INTERVIEW: TUESDAY, APRIL 14, AT 7PM ON SKY NEWS
Originally published as Cardinal Pell speaks out: ‘Child abuse is a cancer in the church’
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