Cardinal George Pell knew pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was moved between parishes because of
*** in the woods abuse alle***s and failed to push for another's ***al, a royal commission concluded.
After the previously redacted findings' release on Thursday following the High Court's decision to overturn his child abuse convictions, Cardinal Pell said he was surprised by some of the royal commission's views about his actions. The child abuse royal commission findings surprised Australia's most senior Catholic cleric, who argues they are not supported by the evidence.
The commission also rejected Cardinal Pell's evidence he was deceived by Melbourne Catholic education of***ials because they did not tell him what they knew about Searson's behaviour. The commission found child ***ual abuse was on Cardinal Pell's radar in relation to Ridsdale taking boys away on overnight camps and Mildura priest John Day.
The commissioners rejected Cardinal Pell's claim he was deceived in "a world of crimes and cover-ups" about Ridsdale, his 1973 Ballarat housemate who was later revealed to be Australia's worst pedophile priest, and the unstable and disturbed Melbourne priest Peter Searson. A child who cannot refuse, or who believes she/he cannot refuse, is a child, who has been ***ually violated.