Biased, lacking accuracy, fairness and balance is how commentator Andrew Bolt describes media reports regarding the recent civil claim against Cardinal George Pell and the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Bolt, a self-confessed agnostic, also labels reports as “anti-Catholic” and a “witch hunt.” In his Thursday piece to air on The Bolt Report, Bolt accuses the ABC Read more
By special arrangement and courtesy of Fr Frank Brennan SJ, professor of law, and Sydney’s Catholic Weekly: The Anatomy of a Travesty. It’s time to declare that George Pell is innocent of the preposterous charges he faced in the County Court of Victoria and to move on for the good of everyone, including bona fide Read more
The verdict on whether to overturn the conviction of Cardinal George Pell will come later, Australia’s highest court said on Thursday. Pell is seeking to appeal the Victoria Appeal Court’s two-to-one decision last year that came down in favour of sustaining his 2018 child sexual abuse conviction. Bret Walker, Pell’s lead barrister, outlined a case Read more
There are a few ways you can lose your religion – in a slow drift where the time between mass attendance and sacraments like confession gets longer and longer, until you can’t in good faith claim to be a member of the flock any more. And then there’s the frank event, where something happens and Read more
The Vatican is holding off from issuing any disciplinary measures against Cardinal George Pell until the Australian prelate has exhausted all legal avenues in trying to overturn his convictions for the sexual abuse of children. After a panel of judges rejected Pell’s attempt to overturn the December 2018 jury’s guilty verdict against him, the Holy Read more
An ageing and dishevelled Cardinal George Pell, Wednesday, returned to his cell in solitary confinement at the Melbourne Assessment Prison. The journey follows the Court of Appeal’s split 2-1 decision handed down by Chief Justice Anne Ferguson. Both she and Justice Chris Maxwell experienced no doubt about Pell’s guilt. “The Chief Justice and Justice Maxwell Read more
A stream of death threats is causing grave concern over the well-being of Cardinal George Pell. Pell, who is now waiting for a ruling on his appeal, may need to take refuge in a secure compound should his conviction be overturned. The Daily Mail reports that while supporters of Pell are not making any assumptions Read more
Disgraced Cardinal George Pell won’t seek a reduced sentence if the Court of Appeal upholds his conviction for sexually abusing two Melbourne choirboys in the 1990s. Pell has been behind bars since February and is due to return to court next week to fight his conviction. But he won’t be adding an appeal against the Read more
In three weeks, a panel of senior judges will hear Cardinal George Pell’s appeal of the unjust verdict rendered against him at his retrial in March, when he was convicted of “historical sexual abuse.” That conviction did not come close to meeting the criterion of guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt,” which is fundamental to criminal Read more
In December, the Australian Royal Commission into child sex abuse in institutions will make its final report. But already enough has been revealed in interim reports to suggest that it will make very challenging reading for Catholics not just in Australia but worldwide. And a recently published book has focused on victims, responses by Church Read more