Pell `performance' not believed: survivors

Child sex abuse survivors say they've "watched a performance" rather than seen Cardinal George Pell give credible evidence from Rome to a royal commission.

The cardinal on Monday night told the commission he was never told of the offending of notorious pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale in the Ballarat diocese.

That was despite Cardinal Pell being on a consultative committee in the early 1980s that advised on shifting Ridsdale between parishes because of his offending.

Cardinal Pell put the blame on then Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns and his advisor for not telling him why Ridsdale was being moved, describing it as a "gross deception".

But a group of abuse survivors who have travelled to Rome to hear the cardinal were disdainful of his evidence, saying it was hard to believe an intelligent man like him could not have known of Ridsdale's offending when it was common knowledge in two Victorian communities.

The now deceased pedophile priest's nephew David Ridsdale, who was sexually abused by his uncle and is a spokesman for the survivors group, told reporters it was clear the Catholic church needed an external body to police its behaviour, especially when it came to children.

"All the evidence shows an incredible litany of lies and deceit that went on for decades."

He said that in blaming Bishop Mulkearns, who is dying of cancer, and others on the consulting committee, Cardinal Pell had thrown "a whole bunch of people under a bus."

"We feel like we've watched a performance rather than evidence," Mr Ridsdale said.

He said the Pope should question the cardinal on his "inadequate role as a consultor" on the Ballarat committee as well as how he is fulfilling his current role as the Vatican's chief financial officer.

Fellow abuse survivor Phil Nagle said of Cardinal Pell's evidence that "there was certainly no truth and honesty" in the way he answered the commission's questions.