Cardinal George Pell’s plea of ignorance to child sex abuse ‘implausible’

The lawyer for an Australian inquiry into child sex abuse described as “implausible” the statement from one of Pope Francis’ top advisers denying knowledge of criminal allegations about two notorious paedophile priests decades ago — one of whom owned a gun and made children kneel between his legs during confession.

Cardinal George Pell insisted he was telling the truth, testifying to Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he had changed a culture of “crimes and cover-ups” within the Catholic Church.

Pell, the Pope’s chief financial adviser, told the enquiry in three days of evidence this week that he was deceived twice by church authorities about child abuse allegations against Fr Gerald Ridsdale and Fr Peter Searson.