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Cardinal George Pell charged with multiple serious sexual offences

Posted by George Brown on 29/06/2017

Posted in: Chritianity, Legal, Media, News, Police, Religion, Uncategorized. Tagged: Cardinal Pell, Catholic Church, child sex offences, George Pell, Vatican, Victoria Police. Leave a comment

Cardinal Pell is expected to be charged with sexual offences. Photo: AAP

Victoria Police have charged Cardinal George Pell with multiple serious sexual offences and have ordered him to appear in court next month.

Police confirmed Thursday that Australia’s most senior Catholic clergyman in the Vatican was summonsed to face charges over alleged historical child sex offences.

“The charges were today served on Cardinal Pell’s legal representatives in Melbourne and they have been lodged also at the Melbourne Magistrates Court,” Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton told a media conference.

Deputy Commissioner Patton said Cardinal Pell is facing multiple charges.

“Cardinal Pell has been charged on summons and he is required to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 18 this year for a filing hearing,” he said.

Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied allegations of abuse against him, branding them as false and part of a “smear campaign” to discredit him.

Click here for a timeline of George Pell’s career as a clergyman

The charges will send shockwaves through the Catholic Church both in Australia and around the world.

Cardinal Pell is the Vatican’s finance chief and considered the third most powerful person in the Catholic Church.

Australia has no extradition treaty with the Vatican, but Cardinal Pell is expected to return to fight the charges.

He previously refused to return to Australia to front the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2016, citing illness.

He instead appeared via video link from Rome to refute allegations he helped cover-up abuse by other members of the clergy.

Deputy Commissioner Patton said police received advice from the Department of Public Prosecutions regarding the investigation in May.Three detectives from the Victoria Police Sano Taskforce travelled to Rome to interview Cardinal Pell about the allegations last October.

“Cardinal Pell has been treated the same as anyone else in this investigation,” he said.

“It is important to note that none of the allegations that have been made against Cardinal Pell have been tested in any court yet.

“Cardinal Pell, like any other defendant, has a right to due process and so therefore it is important that the process is allowed to run its natural course.”

The allegations of sexual assault reportedly were made by two men now aged in their 40s, from Cardinal Pell’s home town of Ballarat.

The men said Cardinal Pell, then a parish priest, touched them inappropriately in the summer of 1978-79, when he was playing a throwing game with them at the city’s pool.

The ABC’s 7.30 program aired the details of the sexual abuse allegations against Cardinal Pell last year.

The Cardinal has vehemently denied the allegations, accusing the ABC of mounting a smear campaign against him and saying the broadcaster had “no licence to destroy the reputation of innocent people”.

He again denied any wrongdoing in July upon news he was being investigated

“The allegations are untrue, I deny them absolutely,” he said.

“I’m like any other Australian — I’m entitled to a fair go.”

The Cardinal of Luxury

Posted by George Brown on 12/03/2015

Posted in: News, Religion, Views. Tagged: Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis, The Cardinal of Luxury, Vatican. 1 Comment

Pope Francis has questioned Australian cardinal George Pell’s spending, at least according to Italy’s prestigious L’Espresso magazine.

The current affairs magazine has branded Cardinal Pell “the “Cardinal of Luxury’’, claiming he last year spent half a million euros ($720,000) in six months setting up his new office after the Pope appointed him to reform Vatican finances.

His Eminence Cardinal George Pell

It claims the Pope questioned Cardinal Pell about the cost, which included furniture, rugs, made-to-measure clothing and business-class flights. The article also states the Pope was critical of an under-sink storage unit that cost €4,600 and asked: “What, is it made of solid gold? Can you tell me how you managed to spend half a million euros?’’

According to the magazine, Cardinal Pell replied: “Your Holiness, trust me. I have purchased only what is needed. I know what I’m doing.’’

L’Espresso says Cardinal Pell — the former archbishop of Sydney — hired his “personal bursar’’, fellow Australian Danny Casey, on a tax-free monthly salary of €15,000.

“The monsignore wants the best for his protege,’’ the article says. “He even rented an apartment for €2,900 per month in Via dei Coronari and has paid for quality furnishings for the office and the residence.’’

The bill, according to the report, included €33,000 for minor renovations, €7,292 for “tapezzeria’’ (wallpaper or upholstery), and nearly €47,000 for furniture and wardrobes.

Mr Casey previously worked as the business manager for the Archdiocese of Sydney, organised World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney and managed the purchase and restoration of a pilgrim house, Domus Australia, in Rome. In his new Vatican position, Mr Casey is in charge of Cardinal Pell’s project management office.

At the time of his appointment last June, he said it had “taken many hours of prayer and reflection before making the decision to relocate to Rome’’.

L’Espresso says the expenditure — which includes computers and office equipment — is “not bad for an entity that is not yet operational’’.

It says that in comparison, another Vatican office with five times more staff members spent €95,000 in the same period.

The article claims that Cardinal Pell regularly flies business class and spent $US1,103 ($1,585) on a flight from Rome to London last year.

“His travelling companion, the Australian priest Mark Withoos, paid only €274 for a seat on the same flight,’’ it says.

Cardinal Pell also allegedly billed the Vatican €2,508 for custom-made clerical clothing from the famed Gamarelli tailor — L’Espresso noted that the clergy usually “pay from their own pocket’’.

L’Espresso says the spending is notable given that Cardinal Pell has ordered a spending review across the Vatican to ensure money is spent helping the poor.

Cardinal Pell ruffled feathers in December when he boasted that he had “discovered’’ hundreds of millions of euros that the Vatican had “tucked away’’.

The Vatican refused to comment on the L’Espresso article.

Papal Football

Posted by George Brown on 11/07/2014

Posted in: Humour, Religion, Sport. Tagged: Benedict XVI, FIFA, Pope Francis, Vatican, World Cup. 2 Comments

Football-mad Pope Francis “might” watch the World Cup final on Sunday between his native Argentina and Germany, but is unlikely to do so alongside his German predecessor Benedict XVI according to the Vatican.

“He might want to watch the final,” says Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi.

But a Vatican source claims he “excluded categorically” the prospect of Benedict XVI, an academic theologian with a liking for classical music, sitting down in front of his television set to watch the face-off.

“It’s really not his thing, he is not a fan. It would be like inflicting an infinite penitence on him at the age of 87,” the source adds despite the wishful thinking of the internet meme above. “He has never been able to watch a football match from beginning to end in his life.”