Fridae

Australia's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Archbishop George Pell, has been cleared of child-sex allegations on Monday after an inquiry into the claims questioned the credibility of his accuser.

An identified Melbourne man accused the cleric of molesting him when he was a 12-year-old altar boy in 1961 at a church camp; Dr Pell was then a trainee priest.

Dr Pell stood down from his position as Sydney's archbishop immediately after the allegations were made against him, but insisted he was innocent. He has resumed his duties at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, where he officiated at a midday Mass on Monday.

An independent inquiry by Alec Southwell, a retired Victorian Supreme Court judge, ruled he was not satisfied that allegations of sex abuse had been established.

In his report, the former judge concluded in his report that he was "not satisfied that the complaint has been established" against Dr Pell as there was not enough evidence to support the accusation because of the time gap between the alleged incident and the complaint, which was filed last year.

Dr Pell who is no stranger to the gay press has been surrounded by controversy since being appointed Sydney's archbishop in May 2001.

He has been a long-time target of gay and lesbian activists and had once come under fire for declaring homosexuality was more of a health hazard than smoking.

In May, he refused to give communion to gays and lesbians wearing rainbow sashes.

Earlier this year, he was quoted by newspaper saying that abortion was a worse crime than child abuse by priests at a conference in Canada but was later forced to explain his comments and contended he was quoted out of context and released a statement saying sexual abuse of children was a grave moral scandal, as was abortion.

Dr Pell had reportedly resisted calls for his resignation earlier this year after he admitted on a current affairs program that he offered a family thousands of dollars in exchange for the family's promise not to sue the church over claims that their two daughters were sexually abused by a priest for six years. He denied the money was intended to buy the family's silence.