Abuse royal commission: victims a thorn in Vatican’s side

This bunch of blokes from country Victoria has held the global stage for nearly a week, and may yet meet the Pope.

Cardinal Pell leaves Hotel Quirinale, Rome, after giving evidence early yesterday. Picture: David Mirzoeff

With no top-flight spin-doctor in sight, the Ballarat Survivors Group has executed a public-­relations campaign like no other. The bunch of blokes from country Victoria has held the global stage for nearly a week, galvanising such support that their demand for an audience with Pope Francis has not been ruled out.

That the Ballarat group’s pitch has been so devastatingly effective has only underscored how disastrous Cardinal George Pell’s three days of evidence to the sex abuse royal commission has been.

LIVE: Pell’s testimony, day four

Within minutes of a break in the intense hearings, the lead spokesmen of the survivors’ group — invariably David Ridsdale, Andrew Collins and Phil Nagle — walk through the revolving doors of the Hotel Quirinale, gather other survivors around and, with scribbled bullet points of notes at hand, broadcast their messages to the world.

“This is our one chance to tell the world, and also to try and change it,’’ says Mr Collins, 47, a former truckie, minutes after standing before a phalanx of cameras and demanding to see Pope Francis because the group’s faith in Cardinal Pell has dissolved.

The men, some supporters, counsellors and legal counsel have been living on two hours’ sleep a night. Global media is 24-hour and not one interview is ­delayed or postponed.

“There is a synergy there with the media,’’ says Mr Nagle. “Once the clerics were convicted of pedophilia the public thought ‘whoa what’s been going on’, and it has been building for a while, but this week is it.’’

But it is also a reflection of their ability to respond quickly, a freshly discovered instinct for a sound bite and their refusal to ­acknowledge Cardinal Pell’s Vatican title — “he is just George from Ballarat to us’’ — that has projected the clergy sex abuse issue to the top of news bulletins. Interesting, too, is how David Ridsdale, both victim and admitted abuser, has been able to position himself almost exclusively as spokesman.

The latest brouhaha is the survivors’ rejection of conditions imposed by Cardinal Pell on any meetings, which were to be pared down to very small groups without legal representation. Instead, they have called for an urgent meeting with the Pope.

Mr Collins said: “We are getting a bit tired of hearing what ­George is saying on the stand. We want to hear from someone who cares about us. George is giving us nothing. He doesn’t care, he is turning (his) back on us ... we don’t want to meet with George at all.”

They sense a vulnerability in Cardinal Pell, who could be asked by the Pope to resign on his 75th birthday in a few months, a convention not always accepted.

“George (Pell) made comments about the Pope backing him; does the Pope back what ­George said last night?’’ asked Mr Nagle, referring to Cardinal Pell’s comments about not being interested in the deeds of Gerald Ridsdale, later exposed as one of the worst church pedophiles.

In another eyebrow-raising moment yesterday, Cardinal Pell said the Catholic Education ­Office and a bishop had deceived him, because “this was an extraordinary world of crimes and covers-ups and people did not want the status quo to be disturbed’’.

The survivors said any audience with Pope Francis would be about damaged children. “We would like to request a meeting to implement systems so this is not repeated again,” said Mr Nagle.

In a statement yesterday, a spokesman for Cardinal Pell said he would be happy to meet privately with survivors today after the hearing. Due to the “private and pastoral nature” of these meetings, these would best be restricted to individuals or small groups, who may bring a support person but not legal or media representatives. He was happy to help with requests to meet Pope Francis, although this was in the hands of officials. He has arranged for survivors to meet a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors today.