Vatican treasurer investigated over child abuse claims

THE Vatican’s treasurer is under investigation over claims he abused children, police announced today.

Cardinal George Pell is accused of multiple offences dating from the Seventies to the Nineties in his home country Australia.

The cleric, one of the world’s most senior Catholics, branded the allegations a “scandalous smear campaign”.

He has been under investigation for more than a year, it was revealed, after a TV documentary by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation detailed abuse claims during interviews with alleged victims.

The channel said it has obtained eight police statements from complainants, witnesses and family members who were helping the inquiry.

Two men, now in their forties, from Cardinal Pell’s home town Ballarat said he touched them inappropriately by grasping them around the groin to hurl them into the air while swimming.

Additionally, a man said he found it “very odd” to find the cardinal standing naked in front of three boys in a surf club’s changing rooms.

Another complaint involved two teenage choirboys, one of whom has since died, ABC reported. Cardinal Pell’s office said he “does not wish to cause any distress to any victim of abuse”.

But it added: “Claims that he has sexually abused anyone, in any place at any time in his life, are totally untrue and completely wrong.

“He denies the allegations absolutely and says they and any acceptance of them by ABC are nothing more than a scandalous smear campaign which the channel appears to be champion.”

Victoria State Police Commissioner Graham Ashton today said his force has been investigating accusations against the cardinal for more than a year. He added that the allegations have been passed to the public prosecutor’s office for advice on whether to prosecute.

Cardinal Pell became archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 and of Sydney in 2001. He took his Vatican role in 2014.