Statement by Dr George Pell

In recent months I have given three media conferences to address the issue of clerical sexual abuse. For years I have worked hard setting up procedures and implementing them to combat this evil.

Sexual abuse of children and vulnerable people is a great evil. It is particularly abhorrent when it is committed by people in positions of trust, such as priests. The Church in Australia now has procedures in place for preventing abuse, investigating complaints against clergy, and for providing care and ongoing support for victims - and they are working well.

The Church regards compassion for the victims and public safety as paramount.

My own commitment to eradicating this evil and to seeing that victims are treated justly and with compassion is a matter of public record. To suggest therefore that some brief remarks made last week at World Youth Day in Toronto were made in an attempt to downplay the issue of sexual abuse, or to deflect attention from it, is absurd.

At the end of my 40 minute talk at a World Youth Day teaching session, I was asked a question about what young Catholics should say when they are asked about sexual abuse in the Church.

I repeated my view that clerical sexual abuse is an enormous moral scandal that has caused great damage to the victims and their families, and also to the Church. We have to be aware of this problem, face it honestly and deal with it in a just, compassionate, and effective way.

I went on to state that there are other grave moral scandals in society, which receive little media coverage. Abortion would be a prime example.

I accept that many people do not share our view on this issue, but for Christians abortion represents the destruction of innocent human life. There are many terrible wrongs that people can suffer, often with life-long consequences. But Christian teaching is at one with the law and secular ethics in holding that the supreme wrong that can be done to a person is the taking of their life. This claim does not make any other evils less evil.

This was the context in which my remarks were made and in which they should be understood. My words did not in anyway downplay the seriousness of sexual abuse. At the end of the session I was given a standing ovation, as reported in the Canadian press but not by the Australian media. My young listeners agreed with me. Sexual abuse is evil, but there are other serious evils in society as well.

Where innocent or vulnerable people are hurt, honesty and compassion are essential. The Church has accepted the challenge to respond in this way to sexual abuse. It is important that our community should do the same on the issue of abortion.

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