THE Catholic Church is not
sheltering paedophiles - and Cardinal George Pell says he's confident a
Commission of Inquiry into sex abuse claims won't expose any ongoing
offending by priests. Cardinal Pell has instead fired back at Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, who investigated claims of sexual abuse in the Hunter Region, accusing him of "smearing" him with the allegation the church obstructed sex abuse claims against priests.
Although Australia's most senior Catholic cleric admitted the church had "started from well behind scratch" on the issue of child sex abuse, he said major reforms since the mid-1990s had stamped out the culture of secrecy.
"We have very good procedures in place. There is wide public awareness of this problem and within the Catholic community, teachers and children to some extent have been alerted against it," he said.
"I hope and believe that there is very little ongoing misbehaviour. I hope there is none. How many cases of child sexual abuse do the police have on their books at the moment? You will probably find there are thousands. And how many of those relate to Catholic priests or teachers? I suppose there are some - but I would expect to know about them."
But Inspector Fox said he had never mentioned Cardinal Pell's name and that he "smears himself" if he believes the church did not obstruct sex abuse claims against priests or that no further offending in the Hunter would be exposed.
Inspector Peter Fox this week forced the hand of Premier Barry O'Farrell by appearing on the ABC and alleging the church was covering up the actions of paedophile priests. He has also claimed the NSW Police had attempted to silence him - a claim rejected by senior police.
Cardinal Pell said Inspector Fox "certainly never approached me".
"I've never had any authority in the Hunter area. I never worked there. I've only been there a few times, very briefly, and I've certainly never intervened with any government or police officials in any way whatsoever," Cardinal Pell told The Sunday Telegraph.
"I think when any person is smeared without evidence, it is unjust. It is completely inaccurate and therefore unjustified."
Inspector Fox said he had never mentioned Cardinal Pell by name but disputed his claims the church had adequately dealt with the problem of paedophile priests or any cover-ups.
He also pointed to Cardinal Pell's decision to make sex abuse victims sign confidentiality clauses before they received compensation when he was in Melbourne.
"If Cardinal Pell is so convinced there is no more offending, will he resign if he's wrong?" Inspector Fox said.