The Vatican's finance chief, Australia's highest ranking Roman Catholic and one of Pope Francis' most senior advisors, Cardinal George Pell, has been charged with multiple sex offenses by Australian police in the latest blow to the Vatican’s attempts to put decades of child sex abuse scandals behind it.
"Cardinal Pell is facing multiple charges in respect of historic sexual offenses," Victoria state police deputy commissioner Shane Patton said, following a police investigation that followed the same processes and procedures applied in other sex abuse cases. Cardinal Pell has been summoned to appear in court in Melbourne on July 18 to face the charges, which relate to complaints made by more than one person, according to the FT. To attend the hearing the 76-year-old would have to return to Australia from Rome, where he has been tasked by the Pope with cleaning up the Vatican’s finances.
Cardinal George Pell at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
“He is to appear in Melbourne magistrates’ court on July 18 in a filing hearing and it relates to multiple charges and multiple complainants,” added Patton.
There might be up to 10 alleged victims, Australian news website News.com.au reports, adding that they were minors at the time of the alleged assaults and are now aged from their late 20s to their early 50s. The allegations are believed to stretch from the time that Pell was a priest in the Australian town of Ballarat to when he was Archbishop of Melbourne. It is alleged that the cardinal groomed boys at a swimming pool in Ballarat in the 1970s and committed sexual assaults at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, according to The Australian.
Since 2014, Pell has lived in the Vatican, with which Australia has no extradition treaty, meaning the cardinal could potentially avoid prosecution if he chose not to return to his home country. However, the Australian Catholic Church said in a statement Thursday that the cardinal "will return to Australia, as soon as possible, to clear his name."
"He said he is looking forward to his day in court and will defend the charges vigorously," the statement added.
Over the past 18 months Cardinal Pell has publicly denied sex abuse allegations that were leaked to the Australian media. In July, ABC, the Australian state broadcaster, interviewed two complainants, Lyndon Monument and Damian Dignan, about alleged inappropriate touching at a Ballarat swimming pool in the 1970s. They both allege the cardinal touched their genitals while playing a game in the pool where he would throw them and the other boys up in the air. Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied these allegations.
When news of the police probe initially emerged last year, Cardinal Pell wrote to Robin Scott, Victoria’s acting minister of police. He formally requested an inquiry into the “maliciously timed leaking of details of a police investigation into purported allegations” against him.
In a statement issued by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Cardinal Pell said he “strenuously denied” all the allegations.“Cardinal Pell will return to Australia, as soon as possible, to clear his name following advice and approval by his doctors who will also advise on his travel arrangements,” said the statement.
* * *
Cardinal Pell has appeared several times at a long-running Australian government commissioned inquiry into institutional responses to child sex abuse, most recently last year via video-link from Rome. During that appearance Cardinal Pell denied he knew about abuse perpetrated by paedophile priests in the Australian town of Ballarat in the 1970s and 1980s. He has also denied claims that he tried to “silence” a victim of abuse.
Cardinal Pell cited ill health when making a decision not to return to Australia to appear before the committee in person.
Pell, 76, was promoted to cardinal in 2003 and three years ago he was appointed to serve as the Vatican treasurer, considered to be the third most powerful post behind the Pope. While it is the first time that formal charges are brought against the clergyman, he was subject of an investigation in the early 2000s after claims emerged that he had molested an altar boy back in the 1960s, The Age reported. At the time, Pell denied the allegations against him, dubbing them "lies."
In February, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released a report stating that more than 4,000 children, mostly boys, have been allegedly sexually abused by Catholic priests in Australia over a period of decades.
According to the investigation, since the 1950s some 7 percent of priests in the country were alleged perpetrators. The commission also said that since the 1980s, the Catholic Church has paid over $200 million to victims of alleged sex abuse committed by priests in Australia over decades.
* * *
Cardinal Pell is the most senior Catholic church official to have been charged with sex offences. However, a series of international probes into the Church’s handling of sex abuse have uncovered evidence that paedophile priests were regularly moved between parishes rather than defrocked and referred to police.
The charges laid against Cardinal Pell will cast a cloud over the Pope Francis’s efforts to draw a line under child abuse issues that have dogged the church for decades. In a December letter to bishops, the Pope said there was “zero tolerance” for child sexual abuse by clergy.
Pope Francis has stood by Cardinal Pell throughout the Australian abuse scandals. When asked about Cardinal Pell last July, the Argentine pontiff said that “one cannot judge” before the judiciary had taken its course. “After the justice system speaks, I will speak,” the Pope added.
How can he speak with a cock in his mouth?
It is better to give than to receive.
Why would anyone allow Father Ben Dover to babysit their kids? After all, why would a normal male join the priesthood in the first place?
The same reason the boys of Sparta wanted to be soldiers when they became men.
They could then ass rape the young boy in their care.
The Senate pages weren't the only pages getting ass action, the chivalrous knights had their pages.
Humans. Some day this species is going to be extinct.
The Church at its best Behavior
That 7% number is low.
I would not be surprised if it is north of 25%.
A pedo was my instructor. He was convicted. How many are not reported? Most! Just like rape victims, plus there is the catholic guilt if doing something against the church.
Upon further thought, maybe 50%.....
Scandal involving a member of the Vatican Bank?
Let's just say it's been known to happen...
The IOR has a long history
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banco_Ambrosiano
Remember when Pope John Paul I got "heart attacked"?
Bingo! This guy might be Hugh Hefner but if he pissed off the wrong person, he's Hugh Sandusky.
If they're saying it was only 10 kids, then we can be sure it was really more than 100......
As a schoolgirls, my ex-wife was compelled to kiss this creature on the hand, and she says he looked upon the children with contemptuous smugness as they were forced to do this.
I dont doubt for a second his guilt
so many ready to convict on charges alone?
seems i recollect lotsa ZH'ers going off against this very thing a hundred times over in other areas. Politics in particular (Trump and Russiagate comes to mind pretty quickly).
yep, the Catholic Church has had its issues with this. Does that mean you are to jump to condemn this guy without any proven or verified evidence as yet?
sorry, it's hypocritical.
calling it not only as i see it but as it is.
Remember kids, there is no such thing as elite pedophilia, and therefore Pizzagate is a crazy conspiracy theory!
Now please go turn on the Disney Channel an watch Dan Schneiderman's child foot fetish videos.
I'm making over $7k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is what I do... www.jobproplan.com
Gee I'm shocked
The Cardinal is building his resume so he can work with peodPodesta and Bill Clinton.
It's worth pointing out that these are homosexuals.
Another thought: since this is the crime most heinous and disgusting, is it being falsely alleged to silence him from revealing whatever financial corruption he discovered while "cleaning up" the Vatican's finances?
great picture
Here comes a few more weeks of extra collections.
The same reason low I.Q. American males join the military, they just can't get enough of that tight Muzzie, young, boys arses!
F'king hope so.... we failed, theres no two way about it... we failed hard and our time is up.
This piece of shit has been doing his utmost to obstruct justice, protect his paedophile mates and both demonize and wear down the victims in Australia... all while hiding his miserable carcas at paedo-central (the Vatican).
Cardinal Pell and his cohorts are the worst kind of person... raising a bible with one hand and slipping their other hand into the knickers of vulnerable people (kids, orphans, invalids etc.).
Let him rot in hell for eternity.
Very restrained comment.
This is all about the side benefits whilst the bastards have been extorting money for centuries with menaces by threatening hell and damnation.
what bothers me the most is they seem to believe not ONE single word they are preaching. Even those who don't molest children seem to cover up for those that do - what kind of religious "brotherhood" is this?
It's evil, and if it wasn't for all the historic books and art I'd say bomb them.
They saved a lot of ancient books over the millenia. They also destroyed anything they found that did not back church doctrine.
If I was Catholic, I would get my peeps together and start my own church. Fuck this centralized religion crap.
Centralized Govt. Banking and Religion... all monopolies, all abuse, all bad ideas.
I put the Catholic church right up there with Islam when it comes to evilness and having values from the stone age....
Religion is, and always has been, about control of the masses for political power purposes by brainwashing, indoctrination, downright lies and if necessary, killing.
what kinda brainwashed dipshit dings the truth?
you're absolutely correct & it's just as rampant in other "denominations."
from julian to gregorian...ask yourself about the biggest historical lie.
the 1 thing these cocksuckers can't control is the cosmos...
https://archive.org/details/HistoryFictionOrScienceVolume1AnatolyFomenko
Religion is the opiate of the masses. Somebody famous said that.
Someone also said that if there were no God, it would be necessary for man to invent one.
if gw bush weren't such a pussy, he'd have sent uh-60's into the vatican for cardinal pedophile bernie law! i was in a rage over that. the whole baby fucking catholic church should be razed with RICO as a child trafficing crime syndicate.
Dear higher IQ people, will you please stop "Screwing" the world up !
Dopey prick.
We're trying to shed a light on reality in the course of influencing opinions to do something about fixing it.
WTFUD TheFederalistPapers Jun 29, 2017 5:28 AM
It is better to give than to receive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm
This is what happens when a religion deviates from the Bible. Though considered the first and largest of the Christian religions, the proof is in the pudding they've done more damage to God and are the works of Satan. It was foretold that these apostate would forbid marriage. What can one expect when they take a naturally created desire of sex, tell them no and then like a complete predator seek out the innocent.
1 Timothy 4:1-3
World English Bible (WEB)
4 But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; 3 forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
Amen. Christ is Lord.
And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Spare us this nonsense.
You can stick your bible up your arse, alongside you sermonisimg mumbo jumbo.
You delued fools are the reason the human species is so fucked up.
Blind faith in some nonsensical fairy tale religion impedes critical thought and rational judgement.
The world we live in is already a paradise; the fucked-up parts are a human construct.
Focus on what we know to be an absolute truth, don't be deluded by "faith" stories.
Wake up you moron.
+100
Bet you don't know how many sex slaves the Hittitties sold to the Israhellites after they banged all their goats and oxen and consulted the talking donkey.
Focus on what we know to be an absolute truth, don't be deluded by "faith" stories----Please shed light on this absolute truth you are so aware of. Remember how much has been posted here on what many of us thought was truth only to find out we to were being played on many levels.
You delued fools are the reason the human species is so fucked up---Really I thought being here on this site by far the majority have said it was the money changers aka bankers as Christ said.
Blind faith in some nonsensical fairy tale religion impedes critical thought and rational judgement.----Well, where would you have us put our faith, where have you put yours? Because everyone has faith or their trust in someone or something? Is it the monetary system that's crumbling that everyone here wonders what is true money, PMs, crypto, land, assets? Where is this unadulterated money system that you have to share with the rest of mankind.
The world we live in is already a paradise----This one gave it away on your level of rationality and intelligence. Are you speaking of Fukushima or WIPP or Handford, or the pacific or any of the thousands of cities that are paradise with its crime and pollution. Or maybe in the country where you can't eat the fish from the streams and lakes. Or the other toxins in the air, water and soil.
Go get your up votes based upon Bible bashing but until you can lead the masses of mankind to this paradise you speak of with absolute truth and knowledge, I'd be quick about hearing and slow about speaking
Nice misdirection!
Religions are great at that! You didn't put up ONE viable argument.
"Well, where would you have us put our faith, where have you put yours?" (Misdirection)
My faith is in ME!!!!! I know best for me, I think best alone and I will respect you until you tell me to save the world through your brand of oppression. Whether it be military control or religion, one cannot exist without the other.
Without the Roman army, (Constantine) there would be no Christianity. Period. Or without the Spanish or the Crusades or the thousands of egresses into the far reaches of the Earth under the guise of 'enlightenment'. Catholics were banned from Plymouth and priests devised the plan to separate South America from Spain. As Hernán Cortés tore through the Aztec Empire, he was following a letter of instruction from Pope Alexander VI that said, “The first aim of your expedition is to serve God and spread the Christian faith.”
To what end? Subjugation. Pure and simple.
I adhere to NO religion, yet retain my faith in myself. I lost faith in the world of man some time ago. If you really want to be closer to God, stop reading the 2nd book, AKA the New Testament.
It's full of parables created by man to control the thoughts of 'lesser' men, so cannot be good by it's nature. I'll give the 'Old' book the benefit of the doubt, however, I will pass over any part that reads, "and God said" or "God decrees" , as hearsay and inadmissible.
Faith doesn't come to you at Sunday school my deluded friend, it comes after years of inquiry, introspection, compassion and charity. It's not religious faith you seek. Who are you? What will you become? What legacy will you leave behind?
GET A GRIP ALL YOU 'Blind Faithers', your day of reckoning is nigh.
A sovereign man takes full responsibility for himself rather than blame some external false ideology.
More power to you brother.
"Well, where would you have us put our faith"
in your own judgement.
you already know the truth down to your dna.
prophecy is easy when you wrote the "encoded" book.
33...
I will begin to entertain your thoughts and *vision* on the world when you have the ability to at-will astral project and see what *is*, for yourself, with no human OR *prison guard* wackiness involved, skewing your information.
One day, we will all get there, including those whose rules we agreed to follow.
Your body-centered comments about faith, crumbling, money, radiation, crime, etc. give you away. If you knew, through your own observations, the myriad levels of the control structure around this planet, seeing the astral realm exact replicas of physical churches and temples with worshippers or those still fighting in wars long since physically past...you wouldn't talk the way you do, defending yet another physical control mechanism.
Go drink some of your own piss; it'll give you that added bit of perspective that is so important right now. Urine therapy, more spirituo-biologic benefits than you imagine. Plus, it lets you know how sweet or bitter you *really* are.
Dont hold back mate, tell us what you really think :-)
Just for you: Romans 1:21-23. About sums it up.
To humour you I just read that.
What a crock of shit. Orwellian double speak.
Sounds like something written for the mindless zombies gulping down the bile spewed by the likes of CNN et al.
Double speak propaganda written for deluded fools to think they just read something profound and mystical... whereas in truth the claw of servitude just closed tighter around one's jugular.
Sure there are some instances of sound, rational practices within the tome... but so there are in Aesops fables and shakespeare and Solzhenitsyn and Monty Python, just without the subjugation and mindless slavery and other worldly paradise bit.
But then again, no evolved human should need be told by a book or a paedophile in a stupid hat and dress (or whatever) how to think and behave as a decent citizen.
You read articles like the one above... but think your flavour of Coolaid is superior. And therein lies the fundamental flaw in the religious. My God is greater than your God. Like 5 year olds in a playground. And with sweet fuck all substance to support their ridiculous claims and hocus pocus.
Some of us have evolved beyond religion and we live in hope that you and your offspring will catch-up one day.
God is a peadophile!
Maybe your god but not mine. Blasphemy
How is blasphemy if you dont beleive the whole charade exists?
Just because some don't believe it doesn't mean it's not real. Satan and the demons believe even though they started this disbelief