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Cardinal George Pell has said he believes victims of clergy sex abuse should be able to sue the Catholic Church in Australia.
Cardinal Pell made this statement at the opening of another public hearing in Sydney by the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The commission is examining the case of abuse victim John Ellis who has lost lengthy court battles over the right to sue the Church.
The Ellis court hearings established in case law, in effect, that the trustees that hold the assets of a diocese cannot be sued because they are not responsible for the diocese’s activities.
This is known as the “Ellis defence” in Australian legal circles.
In a statement read out at the hearing, Cardinal Pell said this case had caused him some concern.
The commission heard later that Cardinal Pell told Mr Ellis he had suffered “legal abuse” as well as sexual abuse.
“Whatever position was taken by the lawyers during the litigation, or by lawyers or individuals within the archdiocese following the litigation, my own view is that the church in Australia should be able to be sued in cases of this kind,” wrote the cardinal in his statement.
This marked a dramatic departure from Cardinal Pell’s previous approach to victims who pursued legal action against the Church.
The Truth, Justice and Healing Council, which represents the Church before the royal commission, is working on a mechanism to make it possible for all victims to sue the Church.
“We are talking about a legal reality for all people the subject of child sex abuse,” Francis Sullivan, CEO of the council, told Guardian Australia.
Mr Sullivan briefed Australia’s Catholic bishops on this recently before the latest hearing and assured the Guardian “the bishops have indicated their verbal support”.
The mechanism for achieving this will be set out in the council’s formal submission to the royal commission.
But as recently as March 11, lawyers for two Catholic religious orders told a Melbourne victims’ lawyer that they still might rely on the so-called Ellis defence.
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