Cardinal Pell holds "emotional" meeting with
abuse survivors
(Vatican Radio) Cardinal
George Pell on Thursday met for nearly two hours with about a dozen victims of
sexual abuse from the Australian Diocese of Ballarat at the Quirinale hotel in
Rome.
Cardinal Pell has been giving
testimony this week to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into
Child Sexual Abuse, which looking into sexual abuse at different institutions
in Australia.
The Diocese of Ballarat,
located in the State of Victoria, has had several clerics and religious accused
of abuse during a 30-year period from the 1960’s, and over a dozen suicides
have been attributed to the abuse. Cardinal Pell was ordained for the Diocese
of Ballarat in 1966.
After the meeting, Cardinal
Pell called the encounter “honest and occasionally emotional,” and acknowledged
“the evil that was done.”
“We all want to try to make
things better actually and on the ground especially for the survivors and their
families and I undertake to continue to help the group work effectively with
the committees and agencies that we have here in the Church in Rome and
especially the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors,” Cardinal
Pell said.
He also addressed issue of
those who had taken their life due to the abuse.
“One suicide is too many. And
there have been many such tragic suicides,” Cardinal Pell said. “I commit
myself to working with the group to try to stop this so that suicide is not
seen as an option for those who are suffering.”
The full statement
read by Cardinal Pell is below
I’ve just met with about a
dozen of the Ballarat survivors, support people and officials and heard each of
their stories and of their sufferings. It was hard; an honest and occasionally
emotional meeting. I am committed to working with these people from Ballarat
and surrounding areas. I know many of their families and I know the goodness of
so many people in Catholic Ballarat: a goodness which is not extinguished by
the evil that was done.
We all want to try to make
things better actually and on the ground especially for the survivors and their
families and I undertake to continue to help the group work effectively with
the committees and agencies that we have here in the Church in Rome and
especially the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
One suicide is too many. And
there have been many such tragic suicides. I commit myself to working with the
group to try to stop this so that suicide is not seen as an option for those
who are suffering. I too despite the separation of distance want to help to
make Ballarat a model and a better place of healing, for healing, and for
peace.
Now, I shouldn’t promise what
might be impossible. We all know how hard it is to get things done. But I do
want it known that I support the work to investigate the feasibility of a
research center to enhance healing and to improve protection.
The church-going people of
Ballarat diocese are known for their loyalty and for their charity. And I urge
them to continue to cooperate with the survivors to improve the situation. I
owe a lot to the people and community of Ballarat; I acknowledge that with deep
gratitude. It would be marvelous if our city became well-known as an effective
center and the example of practical help for all those wounded by the scourge
of sexual abuse.
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