The Wire

The second day at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse saw some explosive testimony from Cardinal George Pell. When discussing the abuse committed by Catholic Priest Gerald Ridsdale, Pell said it was a sad story but that it was of no interest to him at the time. This comment stunned and angered child sexual abuse survivors watching in both Sydney and Ballarat. Cardinal Pell was at times grilled by Counsel assisting Gail Furness, who put it to him that it was “implausible” that he did not know about the abuse committed by Ridsdale, given how wide spread that knowledge was among senior church figures.