Cardinal faces reporters in Rome as Australian police consider whether charges should be laid against him

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Cardinal George Pell maintains he is innocent of historical child sexual assault allegations as police decide whether to charge Australia’s most senior Catholic.

Victoria police say they will take time to consider whether charges should be laid after receiving final advice from the state’s director of public prosecutions about the allegations, which Pell has repeatedly denied.

“I’d just like to restate my innocence,” Pell told reporters in Rome on Wednesday. “I stand by everything I’ve said at the royal commission and in other places. We have to respect due process, wait until it’s concluded and obviously I’ll continue to cooperate fully.”

When asked if he would be prepared to go to Australia, he said: “I will continue to cooperate fully.”

George Pell: police receive prosecution advice on further sex abuse claims Read more

Victoria Police chief commissioner, Graham Ashton, said Pell could find out within weeks if he will be charged.

“If charges need to be laid, we won’t be saying we intend to lay charges, we’ll just get on and do it,” Ashton told ABC Radio on Thursday.

When asked how long that decision might take, Ashton replied: “It doesn’t need to be too long from now if we’ve got advice back. Generally the process from here, on cases of this nature, are generally done fairly quickly, within (a case of) a few weeks.”

Australia does not have an extradition treaty with the Vatican, which could potentially complicate matters if Pell were charged unless he voluntarily returned to Australia.

“Investigators would have sought advice on that as part of the investigation, I’m sure,” Ashton said.

He would not say if the DPP had recommended that charges be laid.

An Australian National University professor of international law, Donald Rothwell, believes Pell would want to return to Australia to mount a vigorous defence if charged.

Pell, who, as the Vatican’s finance chief, is considered the third most powerful person in the Catholic church, has said each and every allegation of abuse and cover-up against him is false.

The allegations against the former Ballarat priest and Melbourne and Sydney archbishop were repeated in a book published this week, which Pell’s office in Rome labelled “an exercise in character assassination”.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney said Cardinal Pell was the victim of relentless character attacks and justice had to be left to run its course.

“It is unfortunate that in the very week this happens media and authors publish and repeat allegations, some of which have already been thoroughly answered. This cannot assist the impartial pursuit of justice,” he said.

“What is clear, however, is that Cardinal Pell has cooperated in every way with multiple police, parliamentary and Royal Commission investigations.”

