22 July 2016

STATEMENT FROM THE OFFICE OF CARDINAL GEORGE PELL
TO THE ABC 7.30 REPORT

Cardinal Pell will not be giving an interview to the ABC 7.30 Report. He
emphatically and unequivocally rejects any allegations of sexual abuse against
him.
The Cardinal’s conduct has been repeatedly scrutinised over many years,
including before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child
Sexual Abuse, the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child
Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations and according to leaked reports,
by Victorian Police’s SANO Taskforce.
One of the claims dates back to the early 60s which was the subject of an
exhaustive inquiry in 2002 by a former Supreme Court Judge Alec Southwell,
who found the allegations were not substantiated.
The Cardinal does not wish to cause any distress to any victim of abuse.
However, claims that he has sexually abused anyone, in any place, at any time
in his life are totally untrue and completely wrong.
He denies the allegations absolutely, and says that they, and any acceptance of
them by the ABC, are nothing more than a scandalous smear campaign which
appears to be championed by the ABC. If there was any credibility in any of
these claims, they would have been pursued by the Royal Commission by now.
In February this year media outlets carried stories of purported allegations
against the Cardinal which were being investigated by the SANO Taskforce.
However, no request has been made to interview Cardinal Pell nor has he
received any details of these claims from the police or anyone. In late May the
Cardinal was advised by the SANO Taskforce that there had been no change in
the status of the investigation since the leaks were first reported.
When Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton was asked in June
this year if there were any plans to speak with Cardinal Pell in Rome he
replied “.....it had not been put as necessary to me at this point in time”.

 As the ABC is aware, Cardinal Pell was the first Catholic Bishop to confront the
evil of clerical child sexual abuse and implement the first program to assist
victims when he introduced the Melbourne Response in 1996. He has
apologised to victims of abuse on behalf of the Church many times and has
met with many victims personally.
He expresses regret that the sensationalist attention given to these unfounded
and untrue claims might cause distress to genuine victims and he encourages
anyone with any legitimate complaint to pursue it through the correct
channels.
Cardinal Pell provides this response at the request of the 7.30 Report and, as
such, he expects it to be published in its entirety during any broadcast which
includes these false allegations. He also expects it to be published in its
entirety on any of the ABC web pages which may also reference these false
allegations.

ENDS
From the office of Cardinal George Pell
Rome. 22 July 2016