60 Minutes May 31 (Story updated

60 Minutes May 31 (Story updated

This week 60 Minutes has a story on facial transplants and bees.

My Brother’s Face
When Joshua Aversano was hit and killed in a car accident, his sister Rebekah and her family were asked an impossible question, to donate his face to save the life of another man. Incredibly, they said yes. As a result, Richard Norris is probably the greatest medical miracle in the world right now. His face, bones, teeth, tongue, skin and hair are another man’s – they belong to Joshua. Richard is the recipient of the world’s first full face transplant. This Sunday Richard, his family, and his new love tell their remarkable story to Allison Langdon. And after 3 years, Rebekah Aversano meets Richard for the first time – the man who now wears her brother’s face.
Reporter: Allison Langdon
Producer: Laura Sparkes

What’s the Buzz?
Who would have thought that the humble honey bee could be driven to extinction? It may sound apocalyptic but, right now, bees are being pummelled by a perfect storm. Pesticides, loss of habitat and a rapacious mite are just some of the forces threatening the Australian honey bee’s very existence. It’s arguably the single greatest threat to our ability to feed ourselves. Without bees, there’s no pollination, no life, no food. The stakes could not be higher. This Sunday Charles Wooley traverses Australia to meet a ferocious army of committed bee keepers and scientists on the war-path to save the precious bee.
Reporter: Charles Wooley
Producer: Rebecca Le Tourneau

Channel Nine has just added an extra story to 60 Minutes tonight entitled The Pope Must Act on George Pell.

I think it’s critical that George Pell is moved aside, that he is sent back to Australia, and that the Pope takes the strongest action against him.” These are the damning words of Peter Saunders, the man handpicked by Pope Francis to sit on the new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.


This past fortnight, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has sat in Ballarat, hearing damning evidence against Father Gerald Ridsdale, Australia’s worst paedophile priest. Witnesses have accused George Pell of ignoring warnings about Ridsdale, and one claims Pell tried to silence him with a bribe. The royal commission has also heard that George Pell was present at a meeting where it was announced that Ridsdale needed to be moved to another parish.


These allegations have rocked the Vatican in Rome, where George Pell currently lives and works as the Cardinal in charge of the Catholic Church’s finances.


In December last year, Peter Saunders – himself a victim of paedophile priests – was chosen by Pope Francis to sit on his new commission charged with establishing greater protections for children and the vulnerable, as well as increasing accountability and transparency on child sex abuse within the Catholic Church.


Peter Saunders has met with Australian victims and their families. He is appalled by the allegations levelled against George Pell and the Cardinal’s response to these allegations thus far. 

Tonight, Peter Saunders breaks his silence on George Pell. In an interview with Tara Brown in Rome, he gives a wide-ranging and damning assessment of Cardinal Pell’s actions to date, and calls for Pope Francis to move against him.


“He is making a mockery of the papal commission, of the Pope himself, but most of all of the victims and the survivors. More importantly, anybody who is a serious obstacle to the work of the commission and to the work of the Pope in trying to clean up the church’s act over this matter needs to be taken aside very quickly and removed from any kind of position of influence.”


See the full interview on 60 Minutes tonight at 8.30pm on Channel Nine.

 

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