Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
ALLEGATIONS against Australia's most senior clergy at the Vatican continue to mount, with new claims emerging he told another parish priest disgraced paedophile Gerald Ridsdale was having sex with boys again.
Clergy sexual abuse victim BWE told the inquiry he overheard a conversation between Cardinal Pell and Father Frank Madden at St Patrick’s Cathedral in September 1983, when he was an altar boy.
He said Cardinal Pell was preparing to officiate a funeral and he and another altar boy BWK were getting dressed for the service in the alcove.
"I heard him exchange pleasantries with Father Madden, I heard his voice but I could not see him from where I stood,” BWE said.
“Father Madden said ‘How’s everything down your way?’ or words to that effect.
“George Pell responded by saying ‘I think Gerry's been r…ting boys again.’ I may have made eye contact with Father Madden but I can't be certain," BWE said.
"Father Madden then shut the door to the alcove where BWK and I were getting dressed."
BWE said Fr Madden promptly shut the door to the alcove.
He told the commission he was deeply disturbed by the conversation,
"The remark shocked me to the core, it rattled me because of everything I had learned from my brothers about Gerry Ridsdale,” he said.
BWE said he told his mother about the conversation in about 1984 or 1985 when he was still in high school to which she replied “don’t be ridiculous.”
The hearing continues.
