Abuse victim blasts ‘lawyered up’ testimony from Cardinal Pell

One of the Catholic Church’s abuse victims has slammed Cardinal Pell’s testimony as ‘lawyered up’.

Stephen Woods told Tom Elliott the Church’s behaviour during the scandal has undermined its moral authority.

He said Church officials across the world have learnt how to protect the Church’s image in the face of accusations of abuse.

‘At no time in his whole career has Cardinal Pell ever gone to the police with any information,’ Mr Woods said.

‘It makes you think this is a person who just wants to hide the truth and protect the assets of the Church.

‘Bishops have learnt from each other how to cover up, how to stonewall, how to harass victims.

‘It doesn’t take much intelligence to say this is not the action of a spiritual or godly organisation.’

Click play to hear the full interview