visit Sydney,July 08: The head of the Catholic Church in Australia was embroiled in a sexual abuse controversy on Tuesday, only days before Pope Benedict arrives in Sydney for a visit that could see abuse victims staging protests.
Cardinal George Pell denied he misled a man complaining of sexual abuse by a Sydney priest when he wrote him a letter in 2003 saying his abuse claim was rejected because there were no other complaints against the same priest.
Australian television reported that Pell wrote another letter on the same day to a different man saying his claim of sexual abuse by the same priest was upheld.
"Cardinal Pell misrepresented the truth. It destroyed my faith," Anthony Jones told Australian Broadcasting Corp's (ABC) "Lateline" program on Monday night.
"He had to know that there was other complaints because he wrote to the man who as an 11-year-old boy was assaulted by Father Goodall on the same day," said Jones.
"I now hate Catholicism because of what Cardinal Pell has done to me, more so than what Father Goodall did to me." Catholic priest Terence Goodall was convicted in 2005 of indecently assaulting Jones in 1982.
Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and brothers in Australia are calling on Pope Benedict to apologize when he arrives in Sydney on Sunday for World Youth Day, July 15-20.
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