Cardinal George Pell has declared he has the Pope’s “full backing”, as he prepares for a second day of testimony in front of the child abuse royal commission.
Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic arrived at Rome’s Hotel Quirinale this morning ahead of another session giving video evidence to the commission on what he knew about abuse committed by Catholic priests.
What did Pell know?
The cardinal met Pope Francis yesterday, after his first four-hour session of giving evidence.
“I have the full backing of the Pope,” he told reporters outside the hotel.
Cardinal Pell’s office said the regularly scheduled meeting was in regard to his work as head of the Vatican Treasury.
Cardinal Pell was listed on official Vatican records as the Pope’s last visitor for the morning before he left for lunch.
It has not been confirmed if the subject of his royal commission testimony was raised in conversation.
During a video link hook up to on Monday (Australian time),Cardinal Pell said he did not know about sex abuse allegations which had been covered up, but he described the handling of them as “catastrophic” for both the church and victims.
He also said he was not going to try to “defend the indefensible”.
Cardinal Pell left the Hotel Quirinale at 3:00am (local time) and was meeting with Pope Francis later that morning.
International media, including Italian reporters, have been covering the hearing.
The daily newspaper, La Repubblica, made note of the fact that Cardinal Pell is the most senior leader in the church to face this kind of questioning.
It is expected the focus today will again be on Ballarat and the period from 1973 when Cardinal Pell was a priest.
Survivors of child abuse who have travelled from Australia intend on being in the audience again.
It has been a gruelling experience for everyone, with media commitments keeping them busy until well after 4:00am.
Anthony and Chrissie Foster said they were looking forward to some more detailed questions.
They discovered the book about their daughters, who were both abused in the church, had been translated into Italian and was selling well.
They said the trip to Rome had been worthwhile because of the attention they had been able to draw to the issue in Australia.