Victims: 'no true or honesty' in Pell's answers

(1 Mar 2016) Australian survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have shown their displeasure Tuesday with the testimony delivered by Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican treasurer. Pell was subject to a second day of questioning on Monday and again spoke to the Sydney-based Royal Commission by video link from Rome. In a hearing that ran late into the night and into Tuesday morning, Pell answered questions about his knowledge, or lack thereof, of peadophile priests in Australia during the 1970s. Australia's most senior Catholic told the Royal Commission he had not known notorious peadophile priest Gerald Ridsdale had abused children in the Australian country town of Inglewood in the 1970s until the former parish priest was convicted of those offences in 1993. Philip Nagle, a survivor of sexual abuse, said that he could see no "truth and honesty" in the way Pell answered questions and said that the Cardinal admitted that the Church would routinely do whatever they could "to minimise any impact of any allegations." Ridsdale's nephew, David, himself a victim of his uncle, said there was no moral or legal justification for failing to report the rape of children. During the hearing, Pell said he had not known the sexual abuse was common knowledge in Inglewood, eliciting gasps from the public gallery when he said "it's a sad story and it wasn't of much interest to me." Pell conceded on his first day of evidence that the Catholic Church "has made enormous mistakes" in allowing thousands of children to be raped and molested by priests. Thirteen abuse survivors and their companions travelled across the globe to witness Pell's testimony in Rome, a significant show of accountability in the church's long-running abuse saga. It's the third time Pope Francis' top financial adviser has testified about the abuse scandal, but the current round has generated intense international attention because it is taking place in the heart of Europe a short walk from the Vatican. The commission's current hearings relate to Ballarat and at how the Melbourne archdiocese responded to allegations of abuse, including during the period when Pell served as a Melbourne auxiliary bishop. Pell, who was born and raised in Ballarat, was ordained a priest there in 1966 and was a consultant to former the Bishop of Ballarat, Ronald Mulkearns, who moved Ridsdale between parishes for years. Before the hearing, one of Pope Francis' top advisers told reporters that Pell has the Pope's backing. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...