The claims were lurid and unverified so Helen Last, the counsellor hired by the Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia to assist victims of clerical abuse, agonised before reporting them to her superiors.
It was 1996 and the newly appointed archbishop, George Pell, had just set up the Melbourne Response to handle the rising numbers of sex abuse claims received by the archdiocese.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/111118745/catholic-church-aware-of-claims-against-george-pell-since-1996
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/111118745/catholic-church-aware-of-claims-against-george-pell-since-1996
