Sarah

“Ballarat survivor Andrew Collins, watching in the room in Rome, said the first word that came into his mind was 'empathy'. 'To me it showed that he [Cardinal George Pell, giving evidence before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse] struggled to show any,' Collins says. 'We didn't see it as a blunder, as he thinks carefully before he speaks and is very intelligent and articulate. This is just how his mind works. If it's not about him, involving him or of benefit to him, then it hardly registers.”
― Louise Milligan, Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell

“[Former Bishop of Ballarat Ronald] Mulkearns appealed to Pope John Paul II about what to do about child sexual abuse - he wanted, says [Former Corpus Christi seminarian Michael] Costigan, 'some direction or counselling'. 'He said the Pope would not talk to him about it', Costigan says. 'He said the Pope turned his back and walked out of the room.' ... 'It wasn't long after he came back that he stood down as Bishop.' (p.189)”
― Louise Milligan, Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell

“Some of those watching believed answers like this (eg. "I don't recall", "I don't think so.") - which dominated Pell's evidence as well as [former Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane Brian] Finnigan's and many of the other priests - to be a form of 'mental reservation' or mentalis restrictio in the Latin. It's a theological strategy dating back centuries, which involves the idea of truths 'expressed partly in speech and partly in the mind'. As the theory goes, lying is considered a sin. But a Christian's ethical duty is to tell truth to God - reserving or restricting part of that truth from human ears is ethically sound if it serves the greater good. (p.185)”
― Louise Milligan, Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell

“People would think that clergy would plead guilty and would do all they could to minimise the stress and pain for the victim. But the Church will hire the best lawyers, barristers and even QCs to defend the abusers ... The victims are cross-examined as if they are on trial. The victims have to recount every detail of the abuse, and then are called liars.' (Sexual Abuse survivor Andrew Collins quoted on p.364)”
― Louise Milligan, Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell