In a belated show of remorse over the cover up of clergy sexual abuse of children, the Catholic Church in Australia release the names of 29 Melbourne priests who are guilty of sexually abusing children.

The 29 are just the tip of the iceberg because there are 30 more priest accused of similar offenses, but their names were withheld since some were already dead when accusations were made against them, giving the priests no chance to respond.

However, guilty or not, the church paid compensation to all the victims of these 59 priests who had been part of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, Archbishop Denis Hart admitted last week to the child abuse inquiry initiated by the state of Victoria.

ABC published the list but withheld the name of four priests in the group of 30 for legal reasons. The 26 others are: Anthony Bongiorno, John Byrne, Peter Chalk, David Daniel, Bernard Day, Anthony Eames, Nazareno Fasciale, Desmond Gannon, Michael Glennon, Jack Gubbels, Barry Gwillim, Penn Jones, Bernie Mackin, Terry Merivale, Syd Morey, John O'Callaghan, Kevin O'Donnell, Tom O'Keefe, Paul Pavlou, Dominic Phillips, Ronald Pickering, Terence Pidoto, Victor Rubeo, Peter Searson and Ray Whitehouse.

The systemic cover up of the abuses include members of the clergy being placed above the law and one former officials, Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns and former Melbourne Archbishop Frank Little destroying documents to hide abuse cases.

Cardinal George Pell, who testified at the probe, defended his accompanying Fr Gerald Ridsdale, one of Australia's worst paedophiles, in court hearings. The cardinal live with the then accused priest for 12 months who pleaded guilty to 30 charges of sexual offences against nine boys aged 12 to 16.

"I felt there was something in the gospels where Christ speaks about being with the lowest of the low. As an expression of solidarity, I gave that limited support," the cardinal said.

"I had a principle that any time I was asked to go to court on behalf of one of my parishioners I generally did and I always said, "I'm here to say that there is a good side to this person and I support them to the extent that is compatible with justice," said Cardinal Pell who admitted he did not realise the act insulted victims.

The victims received $75,000 compensation which is paltry compared to $1 million that American sex abuse victims get, but the cardinal pointed out that many of the victims are not after money but due process, justice and help to move on with their lives.

In its submission to the inquiry, the church placed the number of abused Victorian children at 620 over the past eight decades.

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