The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, has taken leave following the announcement of an inquiry into allegations he sexually molested a young boy in 1961.
ABC - Tue, Aug 20 2002 9:34 PM AEST
The Archbishop of Adelaide, Phillip Wilson, will co-chair the church's National Committee for Professional Standards, after announcing the inquiry today.
Archbishop Wilson says a complaint has been made by an anonymous male alleging Archbishop Pell sexually molested him when he was 12 years old.
Archbishop Pell was then a trainee priest.
The Archbishop has strongly denied the allegations.
"To allege that I am now personally implicated in this evil is a smear of the most vindictive kind," he said.
"I truly wish that I could say more, however it is important that I do not say anything that might prejudice the coming inquiry. Therefore I am unable to make any further comment.
"I will of course co-operate with this independent inquiry in every way possible - frankly, openly and unreservedly."
Leave
He has taken leave effective immediately.
"For the good of the church and to preserve the dignity of the office of Archbishop of Sydney, I will take leave from today from my work as Archbishop of Sydney until the inquiry is completed."
Brother Michael Hill, who will co-chair the national committee with Archbishop Wilson, says the person who made the complaint against Archbishop Pell was encouraged to take his allegations to the police. __________
"Pell faces abuse claim," © Australian Broadcasting Corporation, August 20, 2002
Study more at http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethicscontents.htm
"He chose not to do so, so that put us in the position where there's [the church's program] Towards Healing, [which] states that if an allegation is made against a religious leader, then the chairs take up the situation and find a way forward, a pro-active plan of action to deal with that."
He says the complaint is now in the hands of retired Victorian judge Alec Southwell QC.
"He has the authorisation to conduct the inquiry as he sees fit and we won't interfere with that in any way."
Prime Minister
Prime Minister John Howard has offered his full backing to Archbishop Pell.
"I believe completely George Pell's denial, I rang him this evening and spoke to him," he said.
"They are of course very serious allegations and he's done the right thing in standing aside and the church has done the right thing to have the allegations fully investigated."
Mr Howard also believes an investigation is appropriate.
"They're doing the right thing and whatever people may think, whether you believe or not believe the Archbishop, I do, it's the right thing to have it fully investigated," he said.
"And I think that's what the public expects and it's what members of the church would expect, the right thing is being done in having the matter investigated by a retired judge."
Mr Howard says he does not think there should be royal commission into the broader issue of child sex allegations involving the church.
"We've discussed that and we're not persuaded that that's going to achieve anything very positive," he said.
"There have been a whole lot of investigations, individual complaints are investigated so we're not persuaded that that is something that would have enormous public benefit."
Support
The Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, John Bathersby, has expressed surprise at the accusations levelled against the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr George Pell.
However, Archbishop Bathersby believes Dr Pell's denial of any wrongdoing.
"He's standing down and I think it's proper and correct that there should be an investigation into these accusations that have been made and that they should be dealt with fairly and comprehensively," he said.
"But I feel confident that the investigation will clear the Archbishop of any impropriety.
Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has released a statement saying his counterpart has his total support in the face of the accusations.
He says justice will now be best served by a speedy completion of the inquiry.
Related LinkCatholic Church
Related LinkBravehearts
|