Tag Archives: George Pell

Cardinal George Pell with Pope Francis in 2017

This morning.

Via The Guardian:

Cardinal George Pell was aware of children being sexually abused within the Archdiocese of Ballarat by notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, Australia’s child abuse royal commission found, and it was “implausible” that other senior church figures did not tell Pell abuse was occurring.

More than 100 previously redacted pages of the child abuse royal commission report relating to Cardinal George Pell and what he knew about child sexual abuse within the Catholic church were tabled to parliament today.

While the commission delivered its final report to parliament in December 2017 following a comprehensive five year inquiry into abuse in institutions throughout Australia, survivors and advocates have been forced to wait for the findings relating to Pell because of legal action against him.

There was concern the findings would prejudice a jury, so they were withheld. Pell was acquitted in April of child sexual abuse charges and released from jail, clearing the way for the report to be made public.

George Pell: cardinal was aware of children being sexually abused, royal commission report finds (The Guardian)

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Previously: George Pell on Broadsheet

Overnight.

Australian Chief judge Peter Kidd sentences former Bishop of Sydney and Vatican insider Cardinal George Pell to six years in prison, for the sexual abuse of two boys in the 1990s.

Pell was convicted last month on five charges of child sexual assault, following a committal hearing, a mistrial and a trial. He has lodged an appeal, which will be heard in June.

Pell, who was until recently the third most powerful Catholic in the world, will serve a minimum of at least three years and eight months in prison.

George Pell’s jailing defies the might of Rome but his fall is too appalling for celebration (David Marr, The Guardian)

Yesterday: Did You Like It?

Meanwhile…

Raymond Newton (right) claimed Pell (left) asked him if he had “enjoyed” the abuse he suffered at school.

Tomorrow, Former Archbishop of Sydney George Pell will be sentenced for child sexual abuse offences in a hearing broadcast live from an Australian courthouse .

Pell, who served until this year as the Vatican’s Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, is the world’s most senior Catholic to be found guilty of such crimes.

Meanwhile..

No one thought Cardinal George Pell could fall any further from grace, but victims of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church who reported it to the Cardinal have spoken to A Current Affair about his alleged shocking response.

Raymond Newton was left shocked when in 1996 he detailed to Pell the sickening sexual abuse he suffered at a Melbourne Catholic school in the early 1970s.

“Cardinal Pell looked at me and said, ‘Did you like it?’” Mr Newton told  [Australian TV show] A Current Affair.

“Cardinal Pell, shame, shame. Absolute shame.”

Mr Newton took reporter Martin King on a harrowing journey to the basement below the primary school’s church where he was repeatedly abused by a priest.

“(He would say) it’s God’s way. God’s teachings,” he said.

“Do it, put up, or go to hell.”

‘Did you like it?’ Cardinal Pell accused of heartless response to Church abuse victims (9News)

World will be watching as George Pell sentenced for child sexual abuse (The Age)

Pope Francis (right) with Cardinal George Pell in 2015

Australian Cardinal George Pell has been convicted of sexual misconduct, becoming the highest-ranking Vatican official to be found guilty of such a crime.

After four days of deliberations, a jury on Tuesday rendered unanimous guilty verdicts on five charges related to the abuse of two choirboys in 1996.

Pell’s trial and all details involving the accusations were covered by a court-issued gag order, which forbade all media in Australia from reporting on it.

Pell’s position as the financial controller of the Vatican makes him the third most powerful person in the Vatican.

Pope Francis has removed Pell from his Council of Cardinals, however…

…the removal of Pell, 77, from the council does not necessarily affect his treasury position, which he technically still holds, and a Vatican spokesman would not comment further.

Catholic Church’s third most senior cleric Cardinal George Pell – known as the ‘Vatican’s treasurer’ – is found GUILTY of sexually abusing two choir boys inside a cathedral (MailOnline)

George Pell: Pope Francis removes Australian cardinal from inner circle (The Guardian)

Previously: I Do Not Like Thee, Dr Pell

Pic: Getty

Cardinal George Pell will be the most senior Vatican figure ever to face a criminal trial

Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic and the controller of the Vatican’s finances in Rome, has pleaded not guilty after he was ordered to stand trial over historical sexual offence allegations.

Pell has always denied the allegations against him, but it was the first time he had been required to enter a formal plea.

The decision came after a dramatic four-week committal hearing in March in which the Cardinal’s lead barrister, Robert Richter, said the accusers were lying and had a vendetta against Cardinal Pell.

Who is Cardinal George Pell and what is he accused of? (Guardian)

Pic: Getty