Cardinal George Pell will appear before Royal Commission in person

HE’S been resisting but Cardinal George Pell will finally appear to answer what everyone wants to know - what did he know and what did he do?

(FILES) This file photo taken on April 2, 2015 shows Australian Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy of the Holy See arriving to attend a Chrism mass for Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) which marks the start of Easter celebrations at St Peter's basilica in Vatican. Pell on May 21, 2015 denied trying to bribe a victim of a paedophile priest to keep him quiet as abuse survivors demanded he return to Australia to give evidence to a royal commission on the allegations against priest uncle Gerald Ridsdale, a notorious paedophile now in jail. AFP PHOTO / FILES / ANDREAS SOLARO

CARDINAL George Pell has told the chair of the royal commission he’s prepared to give evidence in person.

“I want to make it absolutely clear that I am willing to give evidence should the commission request this, be it by statement, appearance by video link, or by attending personally,” he said in the letter to Justice Peter McClellan on Tuesday night.

He also said he’d been horrified by the allegations of abuse in Ballarat and was saddened by the way church authorities dealt with reports of abuse.

Abuse victims have given evidence Pell bribed them to keep quiet, ignored complaints and was complicit in moving Australia’s worst pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to a different parish.

They have called on him to return to Australia to face the royal commission.

In the letter, Pell says he has not yet been asked to give evidence in any form.

“But as I have said repeatedly, I am deeply committed to assisting the Royal Commission and to doing anything I can to help survivors,” he said.

“This includes giving evidence in person, if asked to do so”.