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by Steven TRASK Agence France-Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Protesters denounced late Australian cardinal George Pell for his “bigoted” views on Thursday, as the Catholic Church remembered his “remarkable legacy” with a grand funeral mass in Sydney. The Vatican power broker, who died in Rome last month aged 81, will be buried in the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral after a Pontifical Funeral Mass steeped in the traditions of the Church. Pell continues to divide […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s Catholic Church held a prayer vigil for late cardinal George Pell who lay in state Wednesday, as sexual abuse survivors tied ribbons to the cathedral gates in protest. Pell, a Vatican powerbroker who rose from humble beginnings in small town Australia, died in Rome in January, aged 81. Once considered Pope Francis’s “right-hand man”, Pell’s final years were marked by sexual abuse allegations and criticism of his hard-line positions on […]
by Holly ROBERTSON Agence France Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Cardinal George Pell was aware of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Australia as far back as the 1970s and failed to seek the removal of accused priests, according to findings of a top-level inquiry released Thursday. The Royal Commission report was handed down in 2017 but pages relating to Pell’s conduct were heavily redacted to prevent jurors in his trials on child […]
by Holly ROBERTSON Agence France Presse BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — Cardinal George Pell was released from prison on Tuesday, hours after Australia’s High Court quashed his conviction for child sex abuse, bringing to an abrupt end the most high-profile paedophilia case faced by the Catholic Church. The 78-year-old left Barwon Prison near Melbourne after the court overturned five counts of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in the 1990s. Pell, who had steadfastly maintained his […]
CANBERRA, Australia (AFP) — Disgraced Catholic Cardinal George Pell was handed a final chance to clear his name Wednesday, when Australia’s top court agreed to allow his appeal against convictions for child abuse. The 78-year-old former Vatican treasurer is currently serving a six-year jail sentence for molesting two 13-year-old choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s, but continues to deny any wrongdoing. Justice Michelle Gordon — in a statement that took less than […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Disgraced Cardinal George Pell lodged an appeal against his child sex abuse convictions in Australia’s High Court on Tuesday, an official in Canberra said. It is the final avenue of appeal for the 78-year-old — who is serving a six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s — to get out of jail and clear his name. The former Vatican treasurer who once helped elect popes, last month […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The ruling in Australian Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against his conviction on historical child sex abuse charges will be handed down on August 21, court officials announced Thursday. Pell, 78, the former Vatican number three, was sentenced in March to six years in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s. A three-judge panel of Victoria state’s Supreme Court has been deliberating his case since hearing his appeal […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Disgraced Australian Cardinal George Pell is facing fresh legal woes after being named in a civil suit alleging he failed to protect victims of a priest he knew was abusing children. The civil case was filed in the Victoria state Supreme Court on Friday by a man who said he suffered abuse at the hands of Christian Brother Edward “Ted” Dowan when he was a student at a Melbourne college […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian police said on Wednesday they had charged a Catholic priest with indecent assault of a 15-year-old boy more than two decades ago, the latest member of the clergy caught in the church’s global sex-abuse scandal. The announcement comes a week after disgraced Australian Cardinal George Pell was sentenced in Melbourne to six years in prison for the sexual abuse of two choirboys. Police said the 61-year-old man, whose identity was […]
The former choirboy molested by Australian Cardinal George Pell led the response to his sentencing Wednesday, saying it was “hard to take comfort” from his six-year jail term. Pell was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria after being found guilty of five counts of sexual and indecent assault in the sacristy of a Melbourne cathedral in 1996 and 1997. Chief Justice Peter Kidd told the court the 77-year-old would be eligible for parole after […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Born in 1941, Cardinal George Pell grew up in rural Australia and, inspired by his devout Catholic mother, chose a career in the church. His star rose fast, and in 2003 he was named to the Vatican’s powerful College of Cardinals — a position that allowed him to vote in the conclaves that elect popes. At home, he was an outspoken conservative who former prime minister Tony Abbott described as […]
MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Disgraced Australian Cardinal George Pell was sentenced to six years in jail for child sex crimes in a Melbourne court Wednesday, with a minimum period of three years and eight months to be served. Chief Justice Peter Kidd told the County Count of Victoria that he had weighed Pell’s “appalling offending” as well as his advanced age — 77 — and that he had led an “otherwise blameless life” in setting […]
