Australian cardinal facing multiple sex abuse charges
Jonathan Pearlman
Nick Squires
CARDINAL George Pell, one of the most powerful figures in the Vatican and Australia’s most senior Catholic, has been charged over historic sex assault offences in a step described as a “watershed” for the Church.
Following years of innuendo and speculation about Cardinal Pell’s alleged abuses of young men dating back to the Seventies, Victoria state police said the 76-year-old would face multiple charges in a case involving “multiple complainants”. Cardinal Pell, the Vatican’s de facto treasury minister, declared he was innocent and insisted that he was the victim of media leaks and a “relentless character assassination”.
He plans to return to Australia to clear his name and is due to appear before Melbourne magistrates’ court on July 18. Speaking to reporters at the Vatican, Cardinal Pell – the highest-ranking Holy See official to be charged with sexual abuse – said he was looking forward to his day in court. “I’m innocent of those charges,” he said. “They are false. The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me.” The charges are believed to relate to a range of allegations made by as many as 10 people.
Media reports last year featured allegations from two men, now in their forties, who said they were groped by Cardinal Pell in the summer of 1978-79 at Eureka pool in Ballarat.
“He would play games like throw the kids out of the water,” Lyndon Monument claimed to the ABC. “You know, his hand touching your genitals and stuff on the outside of your bathers or shorts. And then that slowly became hand down the front of the pants.”
Cardinal Pell has been criticised for his handling of sex assault cases involving priests.
Brian Coyne, of Australian Catholic forum Catholica, said the charges marked a “watershed moment for Catholicism”. He told the Age: “The implications for the Church in Australia and for the Church internationally and Pope Francis, scarcely bear thinking about.”