Post by account_disabled on Mar 12, 2024 9:46:35 GMT
He was considered a close advisor to the Pope, who summoned him to Rome in 2014 to help put order in the church's finances. As treasurer of the Holy See, George Pell was seen as the third most powerful man in the Vatican. He has now become the highest Catholic leader to be convicted of sexual abuse.
A court in Australia convicted the 77-year-old cardinal of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old teenagers at Melbourne Cathedral in 1996.
The judicial decision was issued in December France Mobile Number List but had not been disclosed until now due to legal restrictions.
The scope of the sentence, against which the religious has already appealed, will be announced on Wednesday.
Pell, who has always defended his innocence, forged his career as a great supporter of traditional Catholic values and taking conservative positions against abortion, contraceptive methods and in favor of celibacy for priests.
In recent years, his figure was strongly questioned when accusations began to emerge against him that initially accused him of covering up cases of sexual abuse and then began to point out that he was the perpetrator of that type of crime.
Last December Pell was removed from Pope Francis' close circle and his term as Vatican treasurer came to an end last Sunday.
The trial
As stated during the trial, the events for which Pell was convicted occurred during his first year as archbishop of Melbourne, in 1996, when at the end of a mass he found the two teenagers in the rooms of the cathedral.
Then, according to the Prosecutor's Office, Pell told the young people that they were in trouble for drinking communion wine and then forced them to commit indecent acts.
The jury heard the testimony of one of the two victims, since the other died.
The cardinal's lawyer, Robert Richter QC, said in court that the allegations were fantasies invented by the victims.
And the case had to be tried twice last year, as a first jury could not agree on the verdict.
The second jury, however, reached a unanimous conclusion and convicted Pell on one count of sexually penetrating a child under 16 years of age and on four counts of committing an indecent act on a child under 16 years of age.
would-be dad
The trial against Cardinal Pell is part of a long-running investigation in Australia that began in 2012 into the response of the country's institutions to allegations of past child sexual abuse.
A court in Australia convicted the 77-year-old cardinal of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old teenagers at Melbourne Cathedral in 1996.
The judicial decision was issued in December France Mobile Number List but had not been disclosed until now due to legal restrictions.
The scope of the sentence, against which the religious has already appealed, will be announced on Wednesday.
Pell, who has always defended his innocence, forged his career as a great supporter of traditional Catholic values and taking conservative positions against abortion, contraceptive methods and in favor of celibacy for priests.
In recent years, his figure was strongly questioned when accusations began to emerge against him that initially accused him of covering up cases of sexual abuse and then began to point out that he was the perpetrator of that type of crime.
Last December Pell was removed from Pope Francis' close circle and his term as Vatican treasurer came to an end last Sunday.
The trial
As stated during the trial, the events for which Pell was convicted occurred during his first year as archbishop of Melbourne, in 1996, when at the end of a mass he found the two teenagers in the rooms of the cathedral.
Then, according to the Prosecutor's Office, Pell told the young people that they were in trouble for drinking communion wine and then forced them to commit indecent acts.
The jury heard the testimony of one of the two victims, since the other died.
The cardinal's lawyer, Robert Richter QC, said in court that the allegations were fantasies invented by the victims.
And the case had to be tried twice last year, as a first jury could not agree on the verdict.
The second jury, however, reached a unanimous conclusion and convicted Pell on one count of sexually penetrating a child under 16 years of age and on four counts of committing an indecent act on a child under 16 years of age.
would-be dad
The trial against Cardinal Pell is part of a long-running investigation in Australia that began in 2012 into the response of the country's institutions to allegations of past child sexual abuse.