How Convenient: George Pell Too Unwell to Fly... Just Before Sex Abuse Commission

The most senior Australian Catholic, who you might have seen in debate, Cardinal George Pell, is too unwell to fly from Rome to address a Catholic organisation in the US. This might seem pretty innocuous, but it comes after he refused to fly to Melbourne in December mere days before being due to appear before the Royal Commission into sex abuse by Catholic clergy. The Vatican came to his defence in saying he was too ill to fly.

The commission is due to continue its work in February in Ballarat and this latest flight cancellation looks suspiciously like a precursor to Pell denying he can fly in February, and a further cancellation.

As the Guardian states:

In the first round of Ballarat hearings, which are examining child sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy within Ballarat institutions, the royal commission heard allegations that Pell had tried to bribe a child sex abuse victim, David Ridsdale, the nephew and victim of Gerald Francis Ridsdale, after he came forward about his abuse.The commission also heard evidence which suggested Pell was involved in the decision to move Ridsdale, who was his friend, between parishes once the abuse came to light, including parishes in Mildura, Swan Hill, Warrnambool, Apollo Bay, Ballarat and Mortlake.

Pell has strongly denied the allegations. He said after the hearings in May that he was “horrified” by them, and that he would fly to Australia to appear before the commission to give evidence. But his ill health has prevented that.Meanwhile, survivors of child sexual abuse in Australian institutions have urged the federal government to announce its response to the royal commission’s proposal for a national redress scheme, and say they are sick of waiting.

It seems like this is par for the course. Situations like this no longer even remotely amaze me.

And that is too sad. At the end of the chain are countless sexual abuse victims who might never get justice. [caption id="attachment_7019" align="aligncenter" width="550"] An older photo - By Gavin Scott at English Wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons[/caption]