Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi described the testimony made by Cardinal George Pell before the royal commission into child sexual abuse as “dignified.”
Pell “must be accorded the appropriate acknowledgment for his dignified and coherent personal testimony, from which yet again there emerges an objective and lucid picture of the errors committed in many ecclesial environments during the past decades,” said Lombardi in a statement.
On Sunday, Australian victims of child sex abuse expressed disappointment after they failed to meet Pope Francis last week.
The Vatican, however, said the victims did not make their request through the proper channels.
Pell, the Vatican’s treasurer, is the highest ranking Vatican official to give testimony on the issue of sex abuse within the church.
Lombardi, meanwhile, admitted that the inquiry of the royal commission and the Oscar award winning movie “Spotlight” had been “accompanied by a new wave of attention” into the sexual abuse of minors, especially by members of the clergy.
“The sensationalist presentation of these two events has ensured that, for a significant part of the public, especially those who are least informed or have a short memory, it is thought that the Church has done nothing, or very little, to respond to these terrible problems, and that it is necessary to start anew,” said Lombardi.
“Objective consideration shows that this is not the case,” he added.
Sources
Crux
Herald Sun
Channel News Asia
The Sydney Morning Herald
Image: Herald Sun