In what has been described by some as an “unfair, anti-Catholic conviction,” the court ruled in December that Cardinal Pell, who is widely…
In what has been described by some as an “unfair, anti-Catholic conviction,” the court ruled in December that Cardinal Pell, who is widely disliked for his conservative views, sexually abused two choristers in the sacristy of St. Patrick’s Cathedral while he was Archbishop of Melbourne in the late 1990s.
The verdict followed an earlier mistrial in which a jury was deadlocked at 10-2 in favor of declaring the cardinal “not guilty.”
The court has now lifted a media gag order it had imposed on the Pell trial, while announcing that a second trial against him has now been dropped for lack of evidence.
As Breitbert News has reported, Pell has steadfastly maintained his innocence of all charges and his lawyer, Robert Richter, has said there is “voluminous” evidence to show that “what was alleged is impossible.”
Australian journalist Gerard Henderson wrote that Pell has been the victim of a “modern-day witch hunt,” while highlighting biased coverage of Pell by the Australian media, which he attributed to journalistic hostility to “Pell’s conservatism.
