Despite knowing Tuesday's verdict against Cardinal George Pell was coming, survivor Peter Gogarty said he was still .
"I think up until a few years ago, I thought the prospect that we would get anyone like Cardinal Pell into a court was just something that was sheer fantasy," he told SBS News.
Mr Gogarty, who has campaigned for abuse survivors after he was abused by a Catholic priest as a child, called on the Catholic Church to show accountability and take responsibility for the issue.
Child sex assault survivor and campaigner Peter Gogarty. Source: SBS News
"People like me, have got a work left to do. Until the Catholic Church genuinely takes action and it accepts accountability for its behaviour, then I cannot stay silent," he said.
"What the church needs to say very decisively is that this is an enormous blow to the Catholic Church and that yet again, the church finds itself embroiled in a scandal completely of its own making."
Chrissie Foster, a mother of two girls abused by a Catholic priest who battled Pell for recognition, has called for the convicted pedophile's legacy to be torn down.
"Cardinal Pell, Archbishop then, had absolutely no sympathy or understanding," Ms Foster told the ABC's 7.30 on Tuesday night.
"He was just angry and jumping down our throats, telling us to prove it in court or substantiate what we were saying and of course we had no proof because it's just our daughter's word against the paedophile.
"But now, I look at it under this verdict that he's received, and I think, oh, my goodness, you know, he had a vested interest in shutting us up because he himself was a paedophile as well."
Ms Foster said the Melbourne Response, a victim reparation scheme designed by Pell, should be abolished.
Chrissie Foster and her late husband Anthony in Rome. Source: AAP
"Everything he has installed or implemented, everything on his issue, everything he has said on this issue needs to be torn down," she said.
"It was designed to protect himself and people like him."
President of the Blue Knot Foundation for adult survivors of child trauma, Cathy Kezelman, said the Catholic Church has been "anything but fair, just, humane or moral", while child abuse victims advocate and former priest Professor Des Cahil said the verdict was "part of the continuing drama of the Catholic catastrophe".
In a statement, one of Pell's victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he had experienced .
"At some point, we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust," the statement read.
Cardinal George Pell arrives at the Melbourne Magistrates Court. Source: AAP
Earlier on Tuesday, the father of one of the boys sexually abused by Pell engaged the services of a lawyer.
The boy, who was a 13-year-old chorister when he was sexually abused by Pell at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996, never told his parents about the abuse and died of a heroin overdose when he was aged 30.
Now, given the guilty verdict - made public on Tuesday following the lifting of court gag orders - the boy's father says Pell "has blood on his hands".
Shine Lawyers' head of specialist personal injury, Lisa Flynn, told AAP she believed the boy had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression following the sex assault.
The media scrum outside the court as Pell leaves. Source: AAP
She said the boy turned to drug use when he was 14 and his father only learnt of Pell's abuse "some time" after his death.
"We believe his death is directly linked to those conditions that he suffered as a result of the abuse," Ms Flynn said.
"[He] suffered such extreme depression that he overdosed on drugs to numb his severe PTSD as a result of his pain.
"His father will allege that Pell has blood on his hands."
Ms Flynn said the Catholic Church or Pell individually could be pursued in civil action.
"So far we've been instructed to investigate a potential claim. It could be either or both of those that would be named as defendants," she says.
Ms Flynn said the law firm was waiting for Pell's criminal matters to be finalised before filing a civil claim.
Those seeking information or support relating to child sexual assault can contact on 1800 272 831 or on 1300 657 380. is available 24 hours a day on 13 11 14.
- with AAP
- with AAP
