Cardinal Pell was formerly Pope Francis’ finance minister and at one time the third-highest ranking cleric in the Vatican.

You can profess facts, but you can only trust a face. You can only entrust yourself to a person.

Telling my story might have been impaired had I approached it from the point of view of describing a cult. That was for the audience to discern and for me, ultimately, to accept.

The bishops said they find these actions unacceptable and called on Catholics, fellow Christians and all people of goodwill to help them combat such acts of racism and xenophobia.

"It's an act of offering, knowing that God is there, taking charge of all of us. Our faith is not an idea. It's not just an ideology. There is nothing magical. It's a relationship with a person," he said.

Francis said he had been struck by the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on migrant farm workers, who even before the pandemic lived hand-to-mouth with intermittent jobs that pay around 25 euro ($27) a day.