Pell says he won't resign over scandal

Australia's most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, says he won't be resigning over the church's child abuse scandal in Australia.

Cardinal Pell, now the number three in the Vatican and in charge of the organisation's finances, said he hoped he and the church could now get a fair go from the Australian people.

He said he wouldn't be resigning for the sake of the church.

"No I wouldn't resign. That would be taken as an admission of guilt. If the Holy Father asked me to I'd point this out but I'd do whatever he wanted," he told Sky News.

Cardinal Pell was questioned via video link from Rome this week by the abuse royal commission over pedophile priests in the Ballarat and Melbourne dioceses when he was serving there in the 1970s and 80s.

He said he regretted putting the church before victims in the past but he had never put himself before either.

Cardinal Pell said he was in Rome trying to do with Vatican finances what he did to clean up pedophilia in Melbourne.

"There's no man of cover-up in charge of Vatican finances," he said.

Cardinal Pell said he fully conceded that terrible crimes had occurred and he hoped the Australian people would understand the truth.

"I'd like them to give me a fair go. Everybody needs a fair go, and certainly the Catholic Church is entitled to that," he said."