CAIRNS BISHOP‘S REACTION TO PELL’S CHILD ABUSE CONVICTION
THE Bishop of Cairns, James Foley, has revealed that he knew about George Pell’s guilty verdict months ago.
The leader of the Catholic Diocese of Cairns said he was watching the news very closely yesterday as a suppression order was lifted on a verdict delivered in December that found Pell guilty of sexually abusing choirboys.
Bishop Foley said it was distressing news for everybody involved.
“Many within the church and beyond will be understandably shocked by the news of George Pell’s conviction,” he said. “However, in some legal and church circles something of this outcome has been known of since the trial and retrial late last year.”
Bishop Foley said “any sexual abuse is a most serious invasive attack”.
“When done by someone in a position of power or public respect it is an even greater abuse: an exploitation and a betrayal,” he said.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, of which Bishop Foley is a member, has released a statement saying “everyone should be equal under the law”.
“The same legal system that delivered the verdict will consider the appeal that the cardinal’s legal team has lodged. Our hope, at all times, is that through this process, justice will be served,” the conference’s statement read.
Prosecutors yesterday dropped a second trial over allegations Pell indecently assaulted boys at a swimming pool in the 1970s.
Pell is the most senior church official to ever be convicted of child sexual offending.
The jury deliberated for 3½ days before reaching their verdict. The 12-person jury, of eight men and four women, was the second to deliberate on this trial after the first failed to reach a unanimous or majority 11-1 vote.
Pell has lodged an appeal.