VALLA BEACH (CNS): George Cardinal Pell was released from prison after 405 days behind bars after the seven judges of the High Court of Australia unanimously overturned the original December 2018 jury verdict that found him guilty on five counts of molesting two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996.
The court’s decision, read out on April 7, concluded there was “a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof.”
A few hours later, the 78-year-old cardinal was driven from Barwon prison to a Carmelite monastery in Melbourne.
The High Court reversed the result of Cardinal Pell’s June 2019 appeal to the Victoria Supreme Court, which upheld the jury verdict by a majority of two-one. The High Court said the Victoria court should have overturned the verdict based on reasonable doubt about the cardinal having an opportunity to commit the offenses immediately after a Mass in the Melbourne cathedral.
Cardinal Pell was originally sentenced to six years in prison, with a possibility of parole after three years and eight months, for sexually abusing two choirboys in 1996 and 1997. One of the men has since died.
The High Court agreed with Cardinal Pell’s legal counsel who argued that the judges on the Victoria court did not take into account the testimony of witness who said that the cardinal, who was archbishop of Melbourne at the time, might not have had the opportunity to commit the offenses, thus raising reasonable doubt about his guilt, and therefore should have overturned the jury decision.
“I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice,” Cardinal Pell said in a statement, adding that he holds “no ill will toward my accuser.”
He stressed, “I do not want my acquittal to add to the hurt and bitterness so many feel; there is certainly hurt and bitterness enough.”
In a statement on April 7, the Vatican said expressed confidence in the Australian judicial authority and welcomed the High Court’s unanimous decision noting that “Cardinal Pell has always maintained his innocence and has waited for the truth to be ascertained.”
The statement continued, “At the same time, the Holy See reaffirms its commitment to preventing and pursuing all cases of abuse against minors.”
Due to social distancing measures in Australia to stem the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus and the closure of some state borders in the country, the verdict was delivered by chief justice, Susan Kiefel, in a near-empty room in the High Court registry in her home state of Queensland, rather than at the High Court in Australia’s capital, Canberra.
Cardinal Pell said in his statement that “my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church, nor a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of pedophilia in the Church. The point was whether I had committed these awful crimes, and I did not.”
Many survivor’s groups, who saw the cardinal’s conviction as vindication for their long-standing campaigns to get justice for decades of child sexual abuse, were devastated by the acquittal.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishop’s Conference, said in a statement that the High Court’s ruling will be “welcomed by many, including those who have believed in the cardinal’s innocence throughout this lengthy process.”
He added, however, “We also recognise that the High Court’s decision will be devastating for others. Many have suffered greatly through the process, which has now reached its conclusion. The result today does not change the Church’s unwavering commitment to child safety and to a just and compassionate response to survivors and victims of child sexual abuse. Any person with allegations of sexual abuse by Church personnel should go to the police.”
Cardinal Pell faces an abuse investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith—put on hold awaiting the conclusion of the Australian legal process.
