He may be at the Vatican, but Cardinal George Pell is certainly feeling the heat from the Royal Commission into child abuse.

Today, he released a statement denying all the accusations levelled against him.

Tegan Atkins reports.

TRANSCRIPT

Cardinal Pell denies saying ‘don’t be so ridiculous’ to a small boy who told him Priests were abusing children.

He’s also denied being involved in moving notorious sex offender, Gerald Ridsdale, to a new parish to avoid prosecution.

In his statement, Cardinal Pell said he had the deepest sympathy for the victims of abuse, their families and the community for what they had suffered.

And he described the crimes committed against them by priests and brothers as profoundly evil and completely repugnant to him.

The former Sydney archbishop has been mentioned at the commission by several witnesses who say he knew – or at the least might have known – about the widespread abuse in Ballarat while he was a senior priest there in the 1970s.

Tegan Atkins, QUT News.