Sydney Archbishop says Cardinal to front Royal Commission into sex abuse

An Australian Catholic Archbishop has said Australian Cardinal George Pell will return to Australia to answer questions at the Royal Commission into institutional child sex abuse if he is asked, local media reported Friday.

Pressure is mounting on Pell, the prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy of the Vatican in Rome, in the wake of allegations he tried to bribe the nephew of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about sexual abuse while Ridsdale was based in the Victorian country town of Ballarat. Further, the Royal Commission heard Pell was told of allegations of child sexual abuse as early as 1974. "(Pell) may not have the intestinal fortitude or the ability to see beyond his own vanity, but it's his ambition that got him there and it will take his humility to get him out of there,"Paul Tatchell, a victim of catholic church sex abuse, told the Royal Commission hearing on Thursday.

The Royal Commission, currently sitting in Ballarat, is being held to investigate extensive claims and cover-ups of child sex abuse in the Australian Catholic Church and other institutions over a period of more than 40 years.

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, told local media Friday morning that his predecessor, Pell, would return if asked, adding that Pell has conceded errors were made in the handling of child abuse cases in the church and has previously apologized.

"He's said from the start that he wants to cooperate completely with the royal commission and I'd expect that to continue," Fisher said.

However, in a media statement, Pell denied having conversation with a victim who complained about abuse, and that he would never have condoned or transferred Ridsdale if he had known he abused children. Endi