The accusation against Cardinal Pell comes from a victim who describes what Pell did to him and another teenage boy chorister who became a drug addict and committed suicide and was described at the trial as something one would see in homosexual pornography.
Keep in mind that what was described, took place right after Mass in a public cathedral sacristy with Cardinal Pell wearing his pants, clerical shirt, Episcopal cassock, pull over alb, cincture, stole and chasable with miter. Supposedly he greeted congregants after he committed homosexual acts on others and one on him which required a miracle of the parting of all the pull over vestments some tied
with a cincture. One could not even pull up all of that and perform the homosexual sex acts described and then quickly go and greet people still fully robed for Msss including the miter!
This is what John Allen writes:
....the doubts are based on the allegations themselves, which require one to believe that an archbishop known as a fusspot for liturgical rules inexplicably broke protocol to head for the sacristy behind the cathedral altar on a busy Sunday. Normally accompanied by aides but at that moment strangely alone, according to the charge, Pell then discovered two choirboys, also by themselves, sexually abused both boys while still wearing his cumbersome liturgical vestments (which cannot be parted in the ways described in the testimony), and then returned to greeting Mass-goers, all without ever being observed by the host of people who constantly move in and out of the
sacristy on such an occasion.
Cardinal Pell remanded to prison
Following his conviction on charges of the sexual abuse of minors, Cardinal George Pell will be incarcerated in a Melbourne prison in anticipation of a sentencing hearing, expected to take place on 13 March.
By Vatican News
Cardinal George Pell’s bail was revoked during a pre-sentencing hearing at the County Court of Melbourne, where prosecution and defence attorneys presented their concluding arguments. Beginning on Wednesday, Cardinal Pell will be detained at the Melbourne Assessment Prison, pending sentencing. He faces a maximum sentence of ten years for each of the five crimes of which he was convicted.
Cardinal George Pell continues to maintain his innocence, and his lawyer has indicated that he will appeal the conviction. The appeal will be heard by a panel of three judges, rather than a jury; the case will not be closed until the appeal is examined and final decision is rendered.
8 comments:
Pell angered Francis when he mentioned that catholicity meant universal and did not mean that one bishop or country could allow differences from somewhere else. Besides the financial irregularities he was examining.
Father Dan,
Who knows? Maybe PF set him up. I read the story of how the abuse "happened" and it does not seem plausible. Not widely reported, but a previous trial in a hung jury where 10-2 voted for acquittal.
Father McDonald,
You might find this interesting:
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2019/understanding-and-combating-the-francis-effect
I would much prefer to find a way that the Church can demonstrate how to apply a just examination to the situation that would reliably plop Cardinals Pell or McCarrack out on the right sides of the guillotine. As it is, the disaster is that the Church comfortable allowing itself to follow tamely along the way the world sees justice done. So the conference spokesman was right, It really isn’t about homosexuality but about how the Church has allowed itself to apply lower standards to reason.
In my opinion (thus it is a fact!), the Church is trying to appease the gay lobby for whatever reason. Not smart
From Crux:
“Over the last couple of days, Crux has spoken with some of the Catholic Church’s leading reformers on clerical sexual abuse, inside the Vatican and out. To be clear, these are not people automatically inclined to give accused clergy the benefit of the doubt, and several are figures who actually dislike some of Pell’s political and theological stances as well as what’s often see as his fairly bruising personality.
Nonetheless, they’ve expressed skepticism that Pell is actually guilty of the crimes with which he was charged and convicted. The irony is that the people in the Vatican most inclined to welcome Pell’s conviction aren’t really reformers on sexual abuse, but those lukewarm about house-cleaning on the financial front who resented Pell’s challenge to the status quo during his brief tenure as the Vatican’s financial czar.”
From Reuters:
“The Vatican is opening its own investigation into accusations against Cardinal George Pell, who was found guilty of sexual abuse of minors in his native Australia, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
The move means that Pell, who maintains his innocence and plans to appeal the verdict, could be dismissed from the priesthood if the Vatican’s doctrinal department also finds him guilty. The Pell conviction has been particularly embarrassing for the Vatican and Pope Francis, coming just two days after the end of a major meeting of Church leaders on how to better tackle the abuse of children by clergy.”
And La Stampa's "Inside the Vatican" where Andrea Tornelli once worked and is now the new director of Vatican News writes this bombshell:
As if that were not enough, another "embarrassing" indiscretion arrives from Australia: the Archbishop of Brisbane and President of the Bishops, Monsignor Mark Benedict Coleridge, is allegedly under investigation for having hidden the information received from a woman, who reported child abuse committed by priests. Coleridge himself gave the homily at the closing mass of the anti-abuse summit.
Read their full article here:
https://www.lastampa.it/2019/02/27/vaticaninsider/pells-case-embarrassment-and-pain-in-the-vatican-its-a-direct-attack-on-the-pope-9B3GRT7LCqEM11YQ2UB7KM/pagina.html
Is it Episcopal cassock or episcopal cassock? Caps or not? Often I seem lower letters like with "episcopal conference." A bishop's cassock in the Episcopal Church is purple, but usually the bishop also wears what we would call the "dog collar."
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