Cardinal George Pell has told the chair of the royal commission he's prepared to give evidence in person.
"I want to make it absolutely clear that I am willing to give evidence should the commission request this, be it by statement, appearance by video link, or by attending personally," he said in the letter to Justice Peter McClellan on Tuesday night.
He also said he'd been horrified by the allegations of abuse in Ballarat and was saddened by the way church authorities dealt with reports of abuse.
Abuse victims have given evidence Pell bribed them to keep quiet, ignored complaints and was complicit in moving Australia's worst pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to a different parish.
They have called on him to return to Australia to face the royal commission.
Cardinal Pell has denied claims he bribed a victim of a pedophile priest to keep quiet and dismissed another victim's complaints as 'ridiculous'.
In the letter, Pell says he has not yet been asked to give evidence in any form.
"But as I have said repeatedly, I am deeply committed to assisting the Royal Commission and to doing anything I can to help survivors," he said.
"This includes giving evidence in person, if asked to do so".
