Archbishop Peter Comensoli still believes George Pell is innocent of child sex abuse

Archbishop Peter Comensoli says he believes George Pell’s claims of innocence.

Archbishop Peter Comensoli believes Cardinal Pell’s victim may have identified the wrong person to police.

Melbourne’s Catholic Archbishop took to radio yesterday to support George Pell’s claims of innocence and suggested the victim identified the wrong priest as his abuser.

Archbishop Peter Comensoli said he was shocked Pell’s appeal failed and that he persevered in his belief in the disgraced cardinal.

“I believe in what he said to me, on many occasions, that he’s innocent,” he told 3AW.

Archbishop Comensoli said he believed the victim’s account of abuse but said the victim may have misidentified the perpetrator.

“I genuinely think that I can take on my knowledge of the man in terms of George Pell and accept what he has said to me,” he said.

“I can also take on what I’ve heard of (the victim) and what he said in terms of abuse.”

Radio host Neill Mitchell then asked the archbishop: “So you’re not questioning he's been abused. You’re questioning whether it was George Pell?”

“Yes,” the archbishop replied.

Pell, once the most powerful Australian in the Catholic Church, now has 27 days to apply for leave to appeal to the High Court after his appeal was quashed by Victoria’s Supreme Court on Wednesday.

One of Pell’s victims died in 2014, while the other gave evidence at his trial. He said after the decision he felt a responsibility to come forward after the death of the other victim, his childhood friend. “The experiences I have been through have helped me understand what is truly important,” he said.

Viv Waller, the lawyer for the surviving victim, said the archbishop’s comments were unhelpful. “Survivors would have been keen to see him provide a much more supportive response,” she told Channel 7. Anti-child abuse campaigner Chrissie Foster said the archbishop’s comments were likely to further hurt child sex abuse survivors.