The Prince: Faith, Abuse and George Pell

The cardinal was floundering. 'I don't think we should be scapegoated. We'll answer for what we've done, for ... what we've done. We're not trying to defend the indefensible. But let's ...' He paused. 'Right across the board ... let's see.' By turns he was weary and defiant. He complained. He wandered off into the far reaches of Catholic history. Once mentioned, the victims were all but forgotten. Journalists crowded into that plain room in Polding House could not believe what they were seeing. This man had been a bishop for twenty-five years, a cardinal for ten, archbishop in turn of Australia's two biggest cities and a big figure in Rome since the time of John Paul II. He had faced tough press conferences before, but the day after Julia Gillard announced a royal commission into the institutional abuse of children George Pell was falling apart in front of the cameras.