Cardinal George Pell denies bribing pedophile Gerald Ridsdale's nephew

Cardinal George Pell refutes allegations that he attempted to bribe a victim of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

David Ridsdale, the nephew of Australia's worst pedophile priest, said at a royal commission hearing into child sex abuse on Wednesday that he told Cardinal Pell in 1993 about the abuse at the hands of his uncle.

However, Cardinal Pell, who is a family friend, released a statement later that evening, denying that such a conversation ever took place and expresses his regret for the misunderstanding between the pair. 

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Mr Ridsdale told the inquiry that Cardinal Pell asked him: 'I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.'

Mr Ridsdale said Cardinal Pell then started talking about his growing family and that he may soon have to buy a car or house.

He said his response was 'f*** you George and everything you stand for'. 

Cardinal Pell said the matter required an immediate response as it was important to correct the record, particularly given 'the false and misleading headlines.'

'At no time did I attempt to bribe David Ridsdale or his family or offer any financial inducements for him to be silent,' the statement said.

'At the time of our discussion the police were already aware of allegations against Gerald Ridsdale and were investigating. Then, and now, I supported these police investigations.'

'I was and remain extremely sympathetic to David Ridsdale who because of his uncle suffered horrible abuse,' he said.

'I continue to regret the misunderstanding between us.'

The royal commission uncovered church documents that reveal Cardinal Pell helped move Ridsdale between parishes at the height of his reign of terror.

But Cardinal Pell inisted that he never moved Ridsdale anywhere.

'I would never have condoned or participated in a decision to transfer Gerard Ridsdale in the knowledge that he had abused children, and I did not do so," he said. 

After he hung up, Mr Ridsdale said he told his sisters about the phone conversation.

'I remember saying to both my sisters: `the bastard just tried to bribe me',' Mr Ridsdale told the royal commission hearing in Ballarat.

'I have never stated that Pell offered me anything specific or tangible in our conversation, only that his attempts to direct the conversation down a particular path made me extremely suspicious of his motivations and what he was insinuating.' 

Following this phone conversation, Mr Ridsdale decided to phone the Bentleigh police station, the ABC reported.

'They said someone would return my call ... about an hour later, the police returned my call and said: "Are you aware your uncle was to be charged later today?",' he said.

He said he told the police he wasn't aware and then he to the station for a long and 'ultra-specific' interview about his traumatic childhood ordeal.

The following day, Gerald Ridsdale was charged with indecently assaulting David Ridsdale and several other boys.

Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan says Cardinal Pell will be required to make a statement about the allegations.

Church counsel Peter Gray SC said Cardinal Pell has publicly and repeatedly said his recollection of the conversation with Mr Ridsdale is quite different.

Justice McClellan said he expected the commissioners would make a finding about what Cardinal Pell was told. 

Mr Ridsdale described the years of abuse that began when he was 11 years old at a parishioner's farm in Edenhope during the school holidays.

He said from that point on his uncle 'took every opportunity to initiate sexual interaction with me' up until he was 15 years old.

He then went onto explain the the 'charismatic' priest was deemed the 'shining light' on his father's side of the family.

'As a priest, Gerald held an almost supernatural level of power in our family and exerted a great deal of control over the family,' he said.

'He was treated as being better than his siblings and took almost full advantage of his exalted status.' 

Another abuse victim, BAV, told the commission that after he had been abused by Ridsdale in a bedroom at the Ballarat presbytery, Cardinal Pell, who also lived there, arrived home.

'I saw the back of Father Pell but did not know if he saw me and Father Ridsdale or not,' BAV said.

Cardinal Pell has previously denied Mr Green told him about the abuse, after the claims were made in the media.

Cardinal Pell said in 2002: 'At a distance of 28 years, I have no recollection of any such conversation. If I was approached and thought the stories plausible I would have informed the Christian Brothers.'

Dowlan, 65, was in March ordered to serve at least three years of a six-year prison sentence for indecently assaulting 20 boys under his care at Victorian schools in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Cardinal Pell has been mentioned at the commission this week by several witnesses who claim he knew about the widespread abuse in Ballarat while he was a priest in the city in the 1970s.

One abuse victim told the commission Pell ignored him and walked out after being told a Christian Brother was molesting children.

Timothy Green, 53, said he told then Father Pell that Brother Edward Vernon Dowlan was abusing boys at Ballarat's St Patrick's College in late 1974.

'I said Brother Dowlan is touching little boys,' Mr Green said on Wednesday.

'Father Pell said `don't be ridiculous' and walked out.' Mr Green, who said he was 12 or 13 when he told Cardinal Pell, was himself a victim of Dowlan.

'Father Pell didn't ask any questions. He didn't say what do you mean or how could you say that,' he said.

'He just dismissed it and walked out.

'His reaction gave me the impression that he knew about Brother Dowlan but couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it.'

The former Archbishop of Melbourne, who is now based in The Vatican where he oversees the Catholic Church’s finances, was involved in at least one decision to move the pervert priest, the inquiry heard.

Then Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns knew Ridsdale had abused boys 'so he was taken out of there' and again moved to another parish, the abuse royal commission heard on the opening day of three weeks of hearings in the city devastated by decades of abuse. 

Cardinal Pell supported Ridsdale at his first court appearance on child sex offences in 1993, but he has repeatedly denied knowing that any children at all were abused in Ballarat parish when he was working there.

Senior counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness SC said relocating Ridsdale from a Ballarat parish was discussed at a meeting of the bishop's advisers - the College of Consultors - in September 1982, where Cardinal Pell was present.

The meeting minutes say the bishop advised it had become necessary for Ridsdale to move from Mortlake parish, but do not disclose what reasons Bishop Mulkearns gave.

'There will be evidence that Bishop Mulkearns knew it was because Ridsdale had abused boys in Mortlake, and that he had offended in this manner in 1975,' Ms Furness said. 

Ridsdale will give evidence via videolink from jail during the three-week Ballarat hearing, while a nephew he abused will be one of 17 victims testifying.

It was not until June 1988 that Ridsdale was suspended for 12 months, 13 years after the Bishop Mulkearns first knew that he was sexually abusing boys he met during his work as a priest.

Ridsdale had been at nine parishes and other church locations during that time and abused more than 50 children, Ms Furness said.

In May 1993 Ridsdale was charged on summons with 30 counts of indecent assault against nine boys between 1974 and 1980. He was found guilty and sentenced to 12 months jail. 

After he was found guilty, he was almost immediately put on trial again for the sexual abuse of 20 boys and one girl.

He was found guilty of 46 charges and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment with a minimum of 15 years to be served cumulatively with the previous sentence.

In 2006, Ridsdale pleaded guilty to 35 charges relating to indecent assault against 10 boys. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to 29 new charges after being charged with 84 offences.

Risdale has been behind bars since his arrest in 1990.