Australia’s top-ranking cardinal admits to sex scandal cover-up

     George Pell, the top-ranking cardinal in Australia, has admitted
     to a cover-up of the ‘horrendous’ issue of child sex abuse alle-
gations within the Catholic Church.

The top-ranking cardinal in Australia has admitted to the cover-up of a ‘horrendous widespread mess’ regarding child sex abuse within the Catholic Church.

George Pell, an advisor to Pope Francis on Vatican reforms, said on Monday that fear of scandal had prompted the Catholic Church to cover up allegations of sexual abuse.

The cardinal made the remarks in response to an inquiry by the Parliament of Victoria into                    
cases of pedophilia by priests in Victoria State.

“I am fully apologetic, and absolutely sorry,” Pell told Victoria lawmakers on the final day of the inquiry.

“The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church,” he said, adding, “There was a fear of scandal.”

The clergyman, who is one of eight cardinals selected by Pope Francis to advise him on reforming the Catholic Church, also said the church had been aware of the emerging issue of sex abuse from the late 1980s, but had failed to realize the scale of the issue.

“If we’d been gossips, which we weren’t… we would have realized earlier just how widespread this business was.”

“I don’t think many, if any, persons in the leadership of the Catholic Church knew what a horrendous widespread mess we were sitting on,” Pell stated.

Last week, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart told the inquiry that the church had been “slow to address the anguish of the victims and dealt with it very imperfectly.”

Some 620 children as young as seven are said to have been raped by priests in Australia since the 1930s. Some of the victims have recounted their ordeals at the hearing.

Another special commission of inquiry has also been formed in New South Wales to investigate similar allegations of abuse in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has set up a Royal Commission to probe how churches, government bodies and other organizations have dealt with cases of child sex abuse in the country.

DB/HSN

Source : http://www.presstv.ir