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The top-ranking Catholic in Australia admitted on Monday that the church had tried to cover up the sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy. “I’m fully apologetic and absolutely sorry,” Cardinal George Pell told a parliamentary committee. Although he was heckled during parts of his testimony, Pell admitted he was wrong to accompany pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to court 20 years ago when he pleaded guilty to charges of abuse, saying, “I was the one who made the decision” to go. Pell admitted that at least one bishop had destroyed documents relating to abuse, and one archbishop had covered up cases of abuse. Pell also defended the church’s maximum compensation rate to victims of $75,000, saying he worries the claims could “bleed the country dry.”