I was a victim of mass deception, Cardinal George Pell tells child abuse inquiry

CARDINAL George Pell claims a litany of senior Catholic Church figures all deceived him, over decades, about the cover-up of child sexual abuse.

Australian Cardinal George Pell arrives at the Quirinale hotel in Rome, Tuesday, March 1, 2016, to testify via videolink from the Rome hotel to the Royal Commission sitting in Sydney. Pell, one of Pope Francis' top advisers, on Tuesday denied an accusation that his testimony to an inquiry into child sex abuse was an attempt to deflect blame for the Catholic Church transferring Australia’s worst pedophile priest from parish to parish. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

CARDINAL George Pell claims a litany of senior Catholic Church figures all deceived him, over decades, about the cover-up of child sexual abuse.

Cardinal Pell told the child abuse royal commission that five senior officials, including a cousin, left him in the dark.

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During Wednesday’s hearing the church’s third-most senior figure was accused of presenting a “completely implausible” explanation to deflect any blame.

But Cardinal Pell, appearing before the inquiry from Rome, told the commission: “This was an extraordinary world — a world of crimes and cover-ups, and people did not want the status quo to be disturbed.”

“I not only disturbed the status quo, but when I became archbishop of Melbourne, I turned the situation right around,” Cardinal Pell said.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard that Cardinal Pell had sat on a committee that was involved in moving paedophile priest Wilfred Baker between ­parishes. It is the second time Cardinal Pell has been linked to a committee that moved paedophiles between parishes.

He has said he was deceived on both occasions.

On Wednesday, he blamed Melbourne archbishop Frank Little and the Catholic Education Office for deceiving him.

Cardinal George Pell in Rome on the second day of giving evidence to the royal commission. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

He alleged the deception lasted from when he was a priest in Ballarat in the ’70s to when he was an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne in 1988-96. He said he acted responsibly with the knowledge that he had. The commission has heard that while he sat on advisory committees for both bishop Mulkearns and archbishop Little, both kept secrets about paedophiles.

Gail Furness, SC, assisting the commission, asked Cardinal Pell: “So we now have the Education Office deceiving you, and the archbishop deceiving you ... as well as bishop Mulkearns, and one or more of the consultors in the Ballarat diocese?”

“That is correct,” he replied.

Asked why information would be withheld from him, Cardinal Pell said his tough reputation scared people.

“I was the new boy on the block. I was known to be capable of being outspoken. They might have been fearful of just what line I would take when confronted with all the information. They were very keen to keep a lid on the situation.”

Ms Furness suggested the “completely implausible” ­explanation was designed to deflect any blame.

“I can only tell you truth ... the way it was,” he said.

“They realised very clearly I was not cut from the same cloth.

“They (the Catholic Education Office) would have been fearful ... that I would have asked all sorts of inconvenient questions if I’d been better briefed.”

Cardinal Pell conceded he should have done more in 1974 when he was told by a student of St Patrick’s College, in Ballarat, that Christian Brother Ted Dowlan had been abusing kids. He said he passed the complaint on to the college principal but did no more.

“I should have done more ... and just ensured that the matter was properly treated.

“I regret I didn’t do more.”

Br Dowlan was moved to another parish, where he continued to abuse children.

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