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Cardinal George Pell will give evidence to a child sex abuse inquiry in Australia through video link from Rome later this month.
In a ruling released on Monday, the head of Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Justice Peter McClellan, accepted medical evidence of a risk to the cardinal’s health if he undertook a flight from Rome to testify in person.
Cardinal Pell’s lawyers had renewed an application for him to be able to testify though an audio-visual link.
His lawyers tendered medical documents to support the application.
A report was submitted from Professor Patrizio Polisca, the director of complex care emergency medicine at the “Tor Vergata” University Teaching Hospital, Rome, dated January 29.
“The report confirms the evidence previously before the Royal Commission and indicates that Cardinal Pell is suffering from hypertension (for which he is being treated), ischemic heart disease, complicated by a previous myocardial infarction, cardiac dysfunction related to the arterial hypertension and previous ischemia and some other issues not of immediate relevance,” Justice McClellan’s ruling stated.
Lawyers for victims had last week argued that Cardinal Pell’s medical conditions are not uncommon for people of his age.
In his ruling, Justice McClellan stated that it would be preferable that Cardinal Pell fly to Australia to give evidence.
But the commission head was satisfied that doing so would pose a risk to the cardinal’s health and that his condition was unlikely to improve.
Last December, Justice McClellan refused Cardinal Pell’s request to testify through video link to a hearing in Ballarat for several reasons, including technical ones.
Technical difficulties have now been addressed, Justice McClellan stated on Monday.
Cardinal Pell is scheduled to testify via video link from February 29.
On Monday, Justice McClellan also ruled that the frail and ill former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns would be required to give evidence.
But provisions could be made to allow the bishop to do so from his nursing home through video link.
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