Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most powerful Catholic, who was dogged by scandal – obituary
Cardinal was acquitted on appeal of child sexual abuse charges but remained tarnished by his response to paedophile priests over decades
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Pell, who has died in Rome aged 81, spent years crafting and defending the church’s responses to allegations of child sexual abuse as he rose to increasingly powerful positions, first in Australia, then in the Vatican.
In 1996, while archbishop of Melbourne, he established the Melbourne Response to investigate allegations of sexual abuse within the archdiocese going back decades and offer counselling to victims. The response was hailed by supporters as evidence of Pell’s willingness to tackle the stain on the church’s reputation but also criticised for capping compensation payouts and generally lacking compassion for survivors.
In 2002, when archbishop of Sydney, Pell briefly stepped down while facing allegations that he had sexually abused a 12-year-old boy 40 years previously. A church investigation found insufficient evidence to corroborate the accusation.
George Pell dressed in with hands raised
George Pell, as archbishop of Sydney, conducts a mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in mourning for the victims of the Bali bombings on 14 October 2002. Photograph: Mark Baker/Reuters
Later he was accused of failing to act against paedophile priests in Victoria in the 1970s and 80s and gave evidence three times before Australia’s royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse between 2014 and 2016. In its final report, the commission stated that “by 1973 Cardinal Pell was not only conscious of child sexual abuse by clergy but that he also had considered measures of avoiding situations which might provoke gossip about it”.
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/11/cardinal-george-pell-australias-most-powerful-catholic-who-was-dogged-by-scandal-obituary