"Cardinal George Pell is the victim of one of the most vicious witch hunts to disgrace this country. It is shameful. Disgusting. Frightening," he wrote in his February 18 column. George Pell gives evidence to the Royal Commission from Rome "People pretending to be moral have competed with each other to slime Pell as the defender of paedophiles, if not a paedophile himself. "There is no mercy and no attention to the facts. There is just the joy of hatred." He appeared on 2GB on Monday night with presenter Steve Price suggesting Bolt will interview Pell later in the week.

"Andrew, while in Rome, is hopeful and we're assured this is going to happen for us later in the week, Andrew will have an exclusive, one-on-one interview with Cardinal Pell, the most senior Australian in the Vatican, and that will go to air on Friday morning as I understand it," Price said before crossing to Bolt. Meanwhile, Sky News Australia was criticised on Twitter after Bolt's first live cross from Rome on Monday. Some described the posting as "breathtaking bias" while others said it was "fresh media hell". In a statement to Fairfax, Sky News Australia chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos said Sky News reporter Cameron Price had also been sent to Rome to cover the royal commission.

"Sky News has devoted significant resources to the coverage of Cardinal Pell's evidence in Rome. Including full live coverage of all evidence," Mr Frangopoulos said. Bolt's role? To provide opinion, it would appear. "In addition to our news reporter in Rome, Cameron Price, Andrew Bolt has been commissioned as a Sky News contributor for this assignment. "He is one of a number of Sky News Contributors providing analysis which also includes Kristina Keneally delivering, like Andrew, her own views."

Bolt identifies as agnostic while former New South Wales premier Kristina Keneally is a Catholic. Speaking to presenter Laura Jayes on Monday, Bolt said there had been "an enormous hate campaign against George Pell". "There's a lot of claims but I'm not sure there's a smoking gun about his direct knowledge." When pressed by Jayes on whether Pell could have no knowledge, Bolt said the Ballarat-born 74-year-old was "bearing responsibility for the sins of the church". "I think George Pell's problem is that he's the most senior Catholic around. He's a tough, tall figure with a booming voice - he looks a perfect villain in a sense.

"One would hope that this inquiry can go forward in the spirit of actually finding the truth, not being a witch hunt and perhaps giving George Pell more benefit of the doubt than a lot of media has given him." A number of sex abuse survivors have travelled to Rome to watch Pell give evidence after a heart condition rendered him too unwell to travel from the Vatican to Melbourne to front the commission. Appearing via video link on Tuesday, Pell said that he was never made aware of allegations against paedophile priests George Ridsdale and John Day. "I didn't know whether it was common knowledge or whether it wasn't," he told the commission. "It's a sad story and it wasn't of much interest to me. "The suffering, of course, was real and I very much regret that but I had no reason to turn my mind to the extent of the evil that Ridsdale had perpetrated."