MORE than 70 per cent of the brothers in the St John of God order are suspected child abusers and Sydney Archbishop George Pell should immediately shut the order down, says a psychologist employed by the order to meet with its scores of abuse victims.

Dr Michelle Mulvihill, who met more than 120 of the order's child abuse victims during compensation negotiations between 1998 and 2007, said on Sunday that Cardinal Pell had been aware of a loan made by the Catholic Development Fund to assist the order which was facing financial problems because of the compensation claims from victims.

Under pressure ... Cardinal George Pell. Credit:Jeffrey Chan

She also alleged that the order had never properly supervised suspected paedophile brothers and hid documents relating to the child abuse around its properties in Australia in places where police ''would never find them''.

Almost 200 victims have sought compensation after alleging they were abused in special schools and homes run by the brothers in Victoria, New South Wales and New Zealand.