The Catholic Leader Flipbook - Issue 5594 - March 22

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The Catholic Leader, March 22, 2020
News
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Massimo Nodari
THE High Court of Australia has
reserved a decision on whether to
overturn Cardinal George Pell’s
convictions for child sexual abuse.
After two days of hearing from both Cardinal
Pell’s lawyer and the prosecution, the court’s
full bench of seven judges reserved a decision
whether Cardinal Pell will be allowed to appeal
his conviction.
Both legal teams have been given two days
to provide further written submissions for the
judges to consider, although a future court date is
yet to be set.
If granted special leave for an appeal, Cardinal
Pell’s legal team will argue that the 78-year-old
should be acquitted of molesting two choirboys
in 1996 and 1997.
One of the boys gave evidence against Cardi-
nal Pell, while the second died in 2014, without
disclosing any abuse.
Cardinal Pell is Australia’s most senior
Catholic and the former financial controller of
the Vatican.
He has served one year of a six year jail term
for child sex abuse.
He was found guilty of sexually abusing two
13 year-old choirboys in the priest’s sacristy
after Sunday Mass when he was the Archbishop
of Melbourne in 1996. He then assaulted one of
the boys again a few weeks later.
Appearing before the High Court, Pell’s
barrister Bret Walker SC submitted that the
Cardinal should be acquitted.
He accused the prosecution of changing the
parameters of the case and attempting to mas-
High Court reserves decision on
the fate of Cardinal George Pell
ONE of Australia’s longest serving bishops has
stood aside amid the broadcast of allegations
against him of historical sex abuse offences.
A Church message issued on March
10 by Perth Archbishop Timothy
Costelloe said Broome Bishop
Christopher Saunders has vol-
untarily stood aside from the
ordinary administration of the
diocese.
The statement said the Holy
See was “conscious of the par-
ticular situation in the Diocese
of Broome and concerned for the
pastoral care of the clergy, religious
and laity of the diocese”.
Wollongong Emeritus Bishop Peter Ingham
has been appointed apostolic visitor effective
immediately, while Monsignor Paul Boyers will
be responsible for the day-to-day running of the
diocese.
According to a media report, 70 year-old
Bishop Saunders has been at the centre of an
investigation by West Australian police into
offences against two young men, and denies the
claim.
He is only the second Bishop of Broome and
is in charge of one a unique diocese
– 773,000 square kilometres with
a Catholic population of about
10,000 people.
He has always maintained a
keen interest in indigenous is-
sues, arriving in Broome in 1975
to work as a deacon, and after
ordination entering the priest-
hood.
In 1976 he commenced work at
La Grange Mission, moving to Lomba-
dina Mission in 1978.
He worked as a priest at Kalumburu Mission
from 1982-1988.
In 1989 he was appointed to Broome as Ad-
ministrator and retained that position until 1995,
interrupted only by two years of study to obtain
a Licentiate in Canon Law at St Paul’s Pontifical
University in Ottawa, Canada.
– Mark Bowling
sage the facts to fit a legal narrative.
Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions
Kerri Judd QC faced a series of questions from
the full bench about the veracity of the facts that
led to Cardinal Pell being sent to prison.
She shifted position on key evidence in the
case – the timeframe that would have allowed
Cardinal Pell to molest the boys after Mass in
Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral.
Throughout the case, the prosecution has
argued that the offending occurred during five or
six minutes when Cardinal Pell and the choir-
boys were said to be alone in private prayer in
the sacristy.
In a crucial departure from that position,
prosecutor Ms Judd told the High Court judges
it could not be stated for certain how long the
private prayer time lasted.
She said the five to six minutes of private
prayer time may now have been longer, depend-
ing on what unfolded in the cathedral on the day.
Mr Walker had earlier argued the evidence
pointed to “compounding improbabilities”,
including that Cardinal Pell would not have had
the time or opportunity to molest the boys in
the sacristy after Mass.
He said it was Cardinal Pell’s custom to greet
churchgoers on the cathedral steps after Mass
and he would then be accompanied into the
sacristy to remove vestments amid a “hive of
activity”.
Part of the defence’s case hinges on the
impossibility of Cardinal Pell being able to
offend because he was never left alone – he was
accompanied by a priest or a sacristan at all
times after Mass.
Mr Walker also argued that just because the
complainant (the surviving choirboy – now a
man in his thirties) was believable, there was
other evidence that should not be discounted.
Mr Walker told the court that during Pell’s
first appeal in 2019, judges may have been un-
duly influenced by the complainant’s testimony
by watching a recorded video of it rather than
just reading the transcript of his evidence.
Cardinal Pell remains in Barwon Prison near
Geelong outside Melbourne while the High
Court judges consider his fate.
Broome Bishop stands aside after allegations
Waiting: The High Court of Australia, below left, has reserved a decision on whether to overturn Cardinal George Pell’s, above, convictions for child
sexual abuse. Main photo: CNS