Cardinal George Pell has accused the Green party in Australia of being "anti-religion" after a motion was passed in the Australian senate calling for his return to the country, in order to assist the police with clerical abuse investigations.
Earlier this week it emerged that, according to an investigation by a Royal Commission in Australia, seven per cent of Catholic priests between 1950 and 2010 were accused of sexually abusing children.
Following the news, the Greens senator Rachel Siewert launched a motion acknowledging the 4,444 alleged victims of child sexual abuse and noting "the allegations of criminal misconduct against Cardinal George Pell have been forwarded to the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions by the Victoria police” and called on the cardinal to “return to Australia to assist Victorian police and the Office of Public Prosecutions with their investigations into these matters.”
