Top Catholic Cardinal charged with sexual assault offenses

by Dramelin 10:00 PM 0 comments

Pell strenuously denied the allegations in a statement, which said he would return from Rome as soon as possible to "clear his name.
" "He is looking forward to his day and court and will defend the charges vigorously," the statement said.
Police have not released a detailed list of charges and denied Pell was receiving special treatment.
"I want to be perfectly clear -- the process and the procedures that have been followed in the charging of Cardinal Pell have been the same that have been applied in a whole range of historical sex offenses whenever we investigate them," Victoria Deputy Police Commissioner Shane Patton said at a news conference.
"Cardinal Pell has been treated the same as anyone else in this investigation.
" He is the most senior member of the Catholic Church in Australia.
Pell is likely the highest-ranking Catholic official charged in connection with sex abuse in recent years.
"His role is to oversee the budgeting processes and financial procedures of the Vatican," CNN Senior Vatican Analyst John Allen said.
"If it`s analogous to the US government, he would basically be the secretary of the treasury.
" Pell will be required to appear in the Melbourne Magistrate`s court on July 18 for a filing hearing.
He is facing multiple charges and there are multiple complainants relating to those charges, police said.
Royal Commission Before a 2013 government inquiry into sex abuse in Australia, Pell was largely seen as indifferent to the scandal in Australia, according to Allen.
"In Australia, George Pell would be seen as kind of the leading symbol of the sex abuse problem.
And that`s in part because he has said some things and done some things that victims and lawyers and advocacy groups have seen as insensitive and tone-deaf," Allen said.
"His defenders would have a different line, but that certainly has been the charge.
" Pell testified multiple times to the Royal Commission in 2013 and apologized for the abuse.
He also acknowledged that cover-ups allowed pedophile priests to continue abusing children.
"The primary motivation would have been to respect the reputation of the church.
There was a fear of scandal," Pell said.
``Many in the church did not understand just what damage was being done to the victims.
We understand that better now.
" Pell`s statements will likely be key in a trial.
"A lot of legal observers in Australia were telling me that they were skeptical that there would be enough to these accusations to sustain a criminal indictment," Allen said.
"This Royal Commission, that the government poured God knows how much money into, I think was under intense pressure to get a scalp on the wall.
And I`m quite sure that`s what Pell`s legal team and his defenders are going to be saying.
" Australia and the Vatican, which is located in Rome but independent of Italy, do not have an extradition treaty, according to Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University.