According to a recently released report by the Australian government, Cardinal George Pell, who had been the Vatican’s CFO and an advisor to Pope Francis, had been aware for decades of ongoing child sexual abuse by Catholic priests but failed to take action to protect these children or hold the priests accountable.

Cardinal Pell was accused of sexually abusing two teenage boys in 1996, and in 2018 was convicted of the crimes, found guilty in 2018, making him the highest-ranking church official to be convicted of child sexual abuse in the scandal. However, Australia’s highest court overturned the conviction on March 31, noting “compounding improbabilities” that the guilty verdicts were “unreasonable or cannot be supported by the evidence,” according to The New York Times.

A royal commission in Australia was tasked with investigating the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church and other major organizations throughout the country. Its report states that tens of thousands of Australians were victimized by various organizations and institutions over a period of decades, including in churches and schools.

When the report was first released in 2017, information about Cardinal Pell was redacted to avoid prejudicing potential jurors in his impending trial. Now that his conviction has been overturned, the commission was able to release its findings about Pell, including that the cardinal had been “conscious of child sexual abuse by clergy” dating to the 1970s, before he became a cardinal, according to The Guardian. The report states that when Pell served as a priest in the Ballarat Diocese, there were suspected instances of abuse by Catholic priests that he failed to report.

While in Ballarat, Pell reportedly worked closely with another priest, Gerald Ridsdale, who has since been convicted of sexually abusing 65 children over the course of more than 20 years, from the early 1960s to the late 1980s. According to the commission’s report, Pell was aware at the time that Risdale would take boys on overnight camping trips, and despite the problem of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church  “on his radar,” Pell took no action.

The newly released version of the commission’s report also makes note of an account from a man who said that in 1974, when he was a child, he tried to tell Pell that another priest had been abusing boys in the church. The man said that Pell replied, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

A growing number of people are coming forward with allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other adult leaders from their past. Some states, including New York, have changed statutes of limitations to allow survivors to file lawsuits against their abusers and the organizations that allowed the abuse to take place.

If you suffered abuse by Catholic priests or others in New York, even if the abuse happened years ago, you may be able to file a lawsuit and pursue compensation under the New York Child Victims Act. Filing a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by abuse and trauma, but it can at least help to provide monetary compensation and hold those responsible accountable.

Top Class Actions has laid the groundwork by connecting you with experienced sexual abuse lawyers. Consulting an attorney can help you determine if you have a claim, navigate the complexities of litigation, and maximize your potential compensation.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.