Papal visit to Australia clouded by abuse, suicide case

Jul 16, 2008, 9:35 GMT

Sydney - Cardinal George Pell, the leader of Australia's 5 million Catholics, Wednesday reiterated his apology to a family blighted by a sexual abuse case in Melbourne dating back to the 1980s.

Pell, as archbishop of Sydney and host of the weeklong World Youth Day celebrations that have drawn Pope Benedict XVI and 125,000 pilgrims to Australia's biggest city, described as 'tragic' the case of abuse victim Emma Foster, who committed suicide earlier this year at 26.

'I apologized to Emma in 1998,' Pell told reporters. 'I met with her parents. We offered them some financial help. We also offered them counselling. Emma availed herself of that counselling for 10 years, and we contributed substantially towards those counselling costs.'

Her sister, Katherine, who like her sister was raped by Melbourne priest Kevin O'Donnell when she was a primary school pupil, was an alcoholic when she was rendered disabled by a drunk driver in 1999.

Their father, Anthony Foster, is reportedly on his way to Australia from his new home in Britain to confront Pell and Benedict over the case of his two daughters. He told Australia's ABC Radio before leaving that he would not accept a papal apology to sexual abuse victims.

During his Sydney visit, the pontiff was expected to make a formal apology to those sexually abused by wayward priests - one similar to the one he made in the United States during an April visit.

Pell would not say whether he would meet Foster. 'My apology still stands,' the cardinal said. 'I repeat it. It has never been withdrawn. It has been a tragic case in every sense of the word, and I repeat my apologies.'

Pell explained that he was not involved in the civil litigation brought by Foster, who still holds the cardinal responsible.

'In Melbourne, Archbishop Pell put a system in place which he says he is very proud of and he said recently he doesn't know what more he could do,' Foster said. 'There's a lot more he can do. He can beg forgiveness from the victims, he can offer continuing help to the victims and he can just stop fighting the victims in court.'

O'Connell died in prison about 10 years ago.

More heat was injected into the impending confrontation when Bishop Anthony Fisher, among the chief organizers of World Youth Day, criticized those 'dwelling crankily' on past cases of sexual abuse by the clergy.

'I think most of Australia was enjoying, delighting, in the beauty and goodness of these young people ... rather than dwelling crankily, as a few people are doing, on old wounds,' he said.