CARDINAL George Pell toured the Somme battlefields just weeks before poor health forced him to cancel a planned trip to Melbourne to testify at the child abuse royal commission.
The Cardinal, 74, angered victims of child sexual abuse when he backed out of personally appearing at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in   December, citing a longstanding health problem that kept him from travelling. 
He had offered to give evidence via videolink, but his appearance was instead post-poned after his doctors deemed it was unsafe for him to make the long-haul flight from the Vatican to Australia.
The Advertiser has learnt that just weeks earlier Cardinal Pell visited the Somme battlefields in France at the invitation of a friend, later describing the trip as "emotional" and "depressing".
It is not known if the Cardinal flew the two hours to Somme from the Vatican or travelled by train, bus or car.
Abuse victims, who have been highly critical of the Cardinal's dealings with sex abuse matters, say the trip casts doubt over his poor-health claims.
But the The Advertiser understands Cardinal Pell, who suffers from a longstanding heart condition, suffered an incredibly rapid deterioration in health last month with doctors concerned about the seriousness of his condition.
"All survivors of sexual abuse want is justice," victim Stephen Woods said. "It turns the knives in our stomachs to see anyone who should be held accountable get off." Cardinal Pell has been called to give evidence to the royal commission for the third time after being accused of being complicit in a widespread cover-up of abuse.
Witnesses at the royal commission have given evidence that the cardinal ignored reports of abuse, bribed a victim to keep silent and was involved in decisions to shuffle notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale between parishes. He has consistently and emphatically denied the allegations.
Shortly after being appointed Melbourne archbishop in 1996, Cardinal Pell introduced his Melbourne Response - one of the church's first schemes to offer redress to victims of paedophile priests.
Katrina Lee, a spokeswoman for the cardinal, said any suggestion he was trying to avoid facing the commission for the third time was ridiculous.
"He is committed to assisting the Royal Commission in its work, has given evidence on two previous occasions, and is determined to give evidence in the Ballarat and Melbourne case studies," she said."He has often met with victims of sexual abuse to listen to them and to help them in whatever way he can. "