Police child abuse investigations are turning up the heat on a senior Australian Catholic Church figure who was a vocal opponent of equality for glbti people. Cardinal George Pell Cardinal George Pell, who was at various times Archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney before relocating to the Vatican, regularly thundered against legal equality for glbti Australians and refused communion to openly gay Catholics. Once asked how the church would address the issue of homophobia in schools, Pell replied: "We will be doing nothing to encourage the spread of the gay agenda in Catholic schools and we will be consistently working to oppose it". When asked if he was concerned with the effects of homophobia on youth he said, "If [youth suicides] are connected with homosexuality, then that is another reason to be discouraging people going in that direction." On one occasion, in the context of HIV and AIDS, he referred to homosexuality as being a greater health risk than smoking. Now Pell is facing multiple child abuse allegations, including from two men who say Pell touched them inappropriately at a town swimming pool in the 1970s. Another man says he he saw Pell standing naked before young boys at a surf club changing room and is convinced the cleric was deliberately exposing himself to the boys. There are other allegations going back as far as the 1960 when Pell was a trainee priest. Pell denies the claims saying Australia's ABC News has embarked on a "scandalous smear campaign" against him.
Credit: GayN.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 28th July 2016 - 12:56pm