I think the child abuse disaster and Pell's response to it are two different things. I watched the proceedings of the Royal Commission when it was examining the Catholic response, and especially when Pell was being interviewed. At that time, there was no insinuation that Pell himself was a perpetrator. In fact, once he became Archbishop (and thus had the authority) he instantly suspended any priest against whom an accusation was brought. That there was concealment by bishops is undoubted. That Pell was one of those Bishops is very unlikely. He certainly had no hesitation in blaming his predecessors, as Barney Zwartz points out.