When Cardinal George Pell requested a private meeting with survivors of clergy abuse who had flown to Rome for the Royal Commission in 2016, Paul Levey was one of a handful who refused to attend.
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Mr Levey, who was abused by notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale after he was sent to live with him in the Mortlake presbytery at age 14, said he believed the meeting was "only for show".
"I boycotted it because I thought 'what are you going to do from Rome?"," Mr Levey said on Wednesday.
"No one had any real trust in him."
Mr Levey said he and other survivors were disgusted that Cardinal Pell was able to exit via a back door to avoid media outside the Royal Commission.
He said it was "telling" that he exited via the front door and greeted the waiting media after attending the meeting.
Mr Levey said Cardinal Pell had made promises at that meeting he never kept.
He said Cardinal Pell had promised he would work with survivors, particularly those in the Ballarat diocese, to help with the healing process. "We all want to try to make things better, actually and on the ground," Cardinal Pell said in a statement that he read to journalists.
Cardinal Pell said he also supported the creation of a research centre in Ballarat that would "enhance healing and improve protection".
"It would be marvellous if our city became well known as an effective centre and example of practical health for all those wounded by the scourge of sexual abuse," he said. "I know of the goodness of so many people in Catholic Ballarat, a goodness not extinguished by the evil that was done."
However, Cardinal Pell never kept those promises, according to Mr Levey.
"Many years down the track, he hasn't kept those promises," he said.
Mr Levey said he didn't shed a tear when he heard of Cardinal Pell's passing.
He said he believed Cardinal Pell was one of at least four high ranking church officials who knew he was being abused by Ridsdale at Mortlake.
Mr Levey, whose mother Anne Levey passed away last week at age 80, said his mother was disappointed by Cardinal Pell's reaction to news her son was being abused. "She will be up in Heaven making sure the gates are locked," he said of Cardinal Pell's passing.
Mr Levey said the news would act as a trigger to many survivors, who felt let down by the Catholic church.
He said it was difficult for many because the news would spark memories of the years of abuse, particularly as the photograph of Cardinal Pell outside court with Ridsdale is shared on social media and news sites.
"When Ridsdale and other perpetrators go, it will be a good day for survivors because it won't be brought up in the news every six months," Mr Levey said.
Cardinal Pell died in Rome at age 81.
The former Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne and Archbishop of Sydney, died from heart complications on Tuesday following hip surgery.
He was the Vatican's top finance minister before he left Rome in 2017 to stand trial in Melbourne for child sexual abuse offences.
In 2018, Cardinal Pell was convicted of molesting two teenage choirboys in the sacristy at St Patrick's Cathedral while he was Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996.
But Cardinal Pell always maintained his innocence and in 2020 his convictions were quashed in a unanimous High Court decision.
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