Now that Cardinal George Pell‘s four days of giving evidence to the Royal Commission are over, he’s finally addressed the media from a hotel in Rome, a far cry from earlier this week when he arrived by the back door with an apparently very heavy-handed security detail.
His statement, hand-written on hotel stationary, came after he at last met with sexual abuse survivors, a hour-ling meeting he called “hard and honest and occasionally emotional.”
“One suicide is too many,” Cardinal Pell told waiting media in Rome. “Too many. And there have been many such tragic suicides. I commit myself to working with the group that is trying to stop this, so that suicide is not seen as an option for those who are suffering.”
Suicides rates in Ballarat are endemic, with no example more chilling than the grade four class from St Alipius Primary School in 1974, from which one-third of the boys are dead, believed to be from suicide.
Cardinal #GeorgePell has pledged to help the victims of sexual abuse by clergy in Ballarat. https://t.co/t7k85SBBRs pic.twitter.com/UPcgfB5hqD
— ABC Current Affairs (@amworldtodaypm) March 3, 2016
Survivor Philip Nagle told Cardinal Pell that it was vital to focus on suicide prevention.
“I think he gets that bit,” he told media. “I think he thought I was going to talk about the past and bring up all that stuff. We just talked about the future.”
Fellow survivor David Ridsdale, nephew of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, told media that the meeting was “extremely emotional”, and that they “met on a level playing field. We met as people from Ballarat.”
You can read Cardinal Pell’s statement in full below:
“I have just met with the Ballarat group of survivors, support people and officials.“I’ve heard each of their stories and of their suffering.
“It was a hard and honest and occasionally emotional meeting. I am committed to working with these people from Ballarat and surrounding areas. I know many of their families and I know of the goodness of so many people in Catholic Ballarat, a goodness which is not extinguished by the evil that was done.
“We all want try to make things better actually and on the ground. Especially for the survivors and their families.
“And I undertake to continue to help the group work effectively with the committees and agencies that we have here in the church in Rome, and especially the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.
“One suicide is too many. Too many . And there have been many such tragic suicides. I commit myself to working with the group that is trying to stop this, so that suicide is not seen as an option for those who are suffering.
“I too, despite the separation of distance want to help make Ballarat a model and a better place for healing and for peace.
“Now I shouldn’t promise what might be impossible. We all know how hard it is to get things done. But I do want it known that I support the work to investigate the feasibility of a research centre to enhance healing and to improve protection.
“The church-going people of the Ballarat diocese are known for their loyalty and for their charity and I urge them to continue to cooperate with the survivors to improve the situation.
“I owe a lot to the people and community of Ballarat, I acknowledge that with deep gratitude. It would be marvellous if our city became well known as an effective centre for the example of practical help for all those wounded by the scourge of sexual abuse.”
If this post has been in any way triggering, please call the suicide prevention hotline Lifeline on 13 11 14.
