Cardinal ‘has been targeted’
MELBOURNE: A lawyer for the most senior Vatican official to be charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis has told a court that Cardinal George Pell, 76, could have been targeted with false accusations to punish him for the crimes of other clerics.
Lawyers were making their final submissions at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in a hearing to determine whether the case against Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic was strong enough to warrant a trial by jury.
Magistrate Belinda Wallington will rule on May 1 on whether Cardinal Pell will stand trial.
Pell was charged last June with sexually abusing multiple people in his home state of Victoria.