Vatican finance
chief Cardinal George Pell insisted he has the "full backing" of Pope
Francis as he told an inquiry today that abuse claims against Australia's most
notorious paedophile priest were not "of much interest" to him.
Pell was giving evidence from a hotel in Rome via video-link to Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney for a second of three days.
The inquiry is currently focused on the town of Ballarat in the state of Victoria, where Pell grew up and worked, and how the church dealt with complaints, many dating back to the 1970s, against the Catholic clergy.
On the opening day he admitted the church "mucked up" in dealing with paedophile priests and vowed he would not "defend the indefensible".
Pell was giving evidence from a hotel in Rome via video-link to Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney for a second of three days.
The inquiry is currently focused on the town of Ballarat in the state of Victoria, where Pell grew up and worked, and how the church dealt with complaints, many dating back to the 1970s, against the Catholic clergy.
On the opening day he admitted the church "mucked up" in dealing with paedophile priests and vowed he would not "defend the indefensible".
Australia's highest-ranking Catholic, now head of the Vatican Treasury,
met the pontiff after his initial grilling by the commission and told reporters
before resuming his evidence on Tuesday: "I have the full backing of the
Pope."