George Pell arrives at the child abuse inquiry. Credit:Joe Armao Vatican to provide inquiry with documents on abuse He denied he personally covered up offending and he said he was ''fully apologetic and absolutely sorry'' for abuse by clergy. "No. Never," he told the inquiry. He agreed under questioning that the fear of scandal led to a cover-up.

"The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church," he said. "There was a fear of scandal." Answering a question on the high rate of reports of child sex abuse, he said the Catholic Church dealt with an enormous number of children. Cardinal Pell said celibacy might be a factor in the high rate of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. "That might have been a factor in some cases," he said. "As we all know pedophilia is acted out institutional settings by married people so marriage is not necessarily a deterrent to pedophilia. I also think the entry procedures ... for candidates in the middle of last century was much too loose."

Cardinal Pell said that while the church had in the past been reluctant to act to prevent public scandal, "intermittent hostility from the press" had encouraged the church to act on abuse allegations. "We deal with an enormous number of children, probably more than others put together - 140,000 students." Many of his responses regarding his personal empathy for victims were met with laughter and scoffs from the public gallery, which included victims and victims' advocates. Cardinal Pell, who is the Archbishop of Sydney and a former archbishop of Melbourne, has apologised for the abuse committed by clergy. "I’m fully apologetic and absolutely sorry," he said.

"That is the basis for everything which I’ll say now." Cardinal Pell said the church had dealt with child sex abuse "imperfectly" and had not understood the damage being done to victims. "I would agree that we've been slow to address the anguish of the victims and dealt with it very imperfectly," he told the inquiry. "I think a big factor in this was not simply to defend the name of the church. "Many in the church did not understand just what damage was being done to the victims. We understand that better now."

Cardinal Pell said the sodomy of children was always regarded as totally reprehensible. "If we'd been gossips, which we weren't ... we would have realised earlier just how widespread this business was," Cardinal Pell said. He admitted that lives had been ruined as a result of the cover-ups and that they had allowed pedophile priests to prey on children. "I would have to say there is significant truth in that," Cardinal Pell said. He said he did not believe there had been a culture of abuse.

"I think the bigger fault was that nobody would talk about it, nobody would mention it. "I was certainly unaware of it. "I don’t think many, if any, persons in the leadership of the Catholic Church knew what a horrendous widespread mess we were sitting on." Cardinal Pell agreed that placing pedophiles above the law and moving them to other parishes resulted in more heinous crimes being committed. "There's no doubt about it that lives have been blighted.

"There’s no about it that these crimes have contributed to too many suicides." Cardinal Pell said former Melbourne archbishop the late Sir Frank Little did cover up offences in one instance and spoke to nobody about the offending. "Yes, Archbishop Little did cover up but he inherited a situation where there were no protocols and no procedures, and for some strange reason he never spoke to anybody about it," he said. Cardinal Pell said he had discovered "in the last few weeks" that former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns had destroyed documents. The inquiry has heard that Bishop Mulkearns was aware of child abuse accusations against pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale but simply moved him to a different parish.

"His actions were followed by disastrous consequences," Cardinal Pell said. But he said both men would never have intended to aid the offenders. Cardinal Pell admitted that the Catholic Church had recognised pedophilia was a problem in Australia as early as 1988. Inquiry chair Georgie Crozier put it to Cardinal Pell the church was "very well aware" there was a major problem "within its own ranks" in 1988. "Yes," Cardinal Pell said.

"I don’t think anybody then had a recognition of the full extent that would emerge. "But it was in the press, there was certainly a recognition it was a problem." He said the church realised it was an "emerging problem". "Certainly we recognised that." Cardinal Pell said Australian compensation for abuse victimes - a maximum of $75,000 - was low compared to the US but compared quite favourably with the vast majority of the world.‘‘We will pay whatever the law recommends is appropriate compensation.

''Many of the victims aren’t particularly interested in money. The more important thing is due process, justice and help with getting on with their lives. ''The church will continue to fulfil its obligations as they’re defined in Australian society and will continue to try to help victims.'' In his statement to the committee Pell repeated a comment from the start of the hearing: "I'm fully apologetic and absolutely sorry." "I'm committed to working to make improvements." He requested that his submission to the inquiry be posted online for the public in the next 24 hours, saying he regretted he was not called to give evidence earlier given the "searing criticism" of the church at the start of the inquiry.

Earlier, protesters on the steps of Victoria's Parliament House said they hoped Cardinal Pell told the truth at the inquiry. Cardinal Pell is last witness to give evidence at the Victorian parliamentary inquiry. Chanting "George Pell, tell the truth" and "no excuse for child abuse" and holding placards, a handful of protesters from the Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) said there were more of their members inside the inquiry room. CLAN member Sherrin Caird, 44, from Bacchus Marsh, said it was a very important day for victims of child sexual abuse. "We're hoping that he does tell the truth, we're hoping that the cover-ups cease," Ms Caird said.

Loading "We're hoping that the church improves itself so child abuse is not acceptable." AAP, with Jane Lee

