Catholic archbishop is cleared of sexual abuse allegations

Australia's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, has been cleared of child sex abuse by an internal church inquiry led by an independent judge.

Archbishop Pell denied molesting a 12-year-old boy on several occasions in 1961 at a camp on Phillip Island, when he was a trainee priest.

The results of an inquiry by a retired Supreme Court judge, Alec Southwell, were posted on the Church's website yesterday. He reported that he was "not satisfied that the complaint has been established".

Archbishop Pell said he was grateful that the inquiry had exonerated him and that he had relied on prayer to get him through the past few months. "When a person is under extreme pressure, personal values may crumble," he told reporters in Sydney. "However, my Catholic convictions sustained me during these dark weeks."

The judge said that given the delay between the alleged abuse and the complaint being made earlier this year it was impossible to produce evidence to support the allegation.

Mr Southwell also cited Archbishop Pell's vehement denial of the allegations and "some valid criticism of the complainant's credibility" as factors in his judgment.

The inquiry included closed-door hearings in Melbourne from 30 September to 4 October.

Archbishop Pell was voluntarily suspended as Sydney's archbishop immediately after the allegations were made. He described the claim as "a smear of the most vindictive kind".

Peter Ward, a lawyer for the accuser, whose name has not been released, said his client was satisfied with the inquiry and would not be taking the allegations further.

Archbishop Pell was appointed in May last year. Earlier this year, he was quoted as saying at a conference in Canada that abortion was a worse crime than child abuse by priests. He said he had been quoted out of context and released a statement saying child sexual abuse was a grave moral scandal, as was abortion.

He admitted on a current affairs programme that he had offered a family thousands of dollars after their two daughters had been sexually abused by a priest for six years. He denied that the money was intended to buy the family's silence, saying it was meant as compensation.