Legal turnaround in the last instance

adminonDecember 30, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Cardinal George Pell in front of the court in Melbourne © Daniel Pockett/AAP

Acquittal for Cardinal George Pell: Australia's top court this Tuesday overturned the former Vatican economy minister's jail sentence on all five counts of sexual abuse.

The jury should have had doubts about the defendant's guilt based on the evidence, the unanimous decision of the seven judges published via Twitter said. Pell, who was sentenced to six years in early 2019, would be released from his prison near Melbourne later this Tuesday.

Great relief

Pell himself received the verdict with great relief. "I have always maintained my innocence while suffering a grave injustice," Pell said in an emailed statement. The case against him was not a referendum on the Catholic Church, nor was it a referendum on how the Australian church should deal with sexual abuse in the church.

"The ie was whether I committed these heinous crimes – which I did not," Pell wrote.

The verdict was delivered by Chief Justice Susan Kiefel in a nearly empty High Court room in Brisbane. Because of the measures against the spread of the coronavirus, the public was excluded from the pronouncement of the verdict. The virus was also the reason for the closure of the High Court's official seat in Canberra and the transfer of the sentencing to Brisbane.

Accusation of sexual abuse of two choir boys

Pell had been sentenced to six years in prison in December 2018 on charges of sexually abusing two choirboys. The jury reached the guilty verdict based solely on the testimony of one of the alleged victims. In the summer of 2019, an appeals court upheld Pell's conviction by majority vote of two of the three judges.

The assault allegedly took place more than 20 years ago after a high mass in the sacristy of Melbourne Cathedral. However, according to exculpatory witnesses such as then-master of ceremonies Charles Portelli, the abuse was not possible in time or place.

It had been common practice for the then Archbishop of Melbourne to greet Massgoers on the steps of the cathedral after church services. In addition, after church services, the sacristy was bustling with priests and altar servers.

Civil lawsuits loom

After his prison term, Pell now faces additional, civil lawsuits for abuse of minors. Also, further criminal charges of perjury and obstruction of justice are possible in Pell's testimony before the state abuse committee.

Evidence for these accusations could be found in the two volumes of the final report of the state abuse commission, which will be released after the proceedings, which are now concluded.

One sat in pretrial detention, the other was proclaimed pope by mistake. This year, several prominent cardinals are dropping out as papal electors. Six purple bearers lose their right to vote. An overview:

The pope "from the other side of the world" is still extremely spry at 84, though Francis admitted after his impressive trip to Iraq earlier this week that the trip had taxed him more than any before. When the next conclave could be, remains nevertheless completely speculative. Leo XIII., as the oldest sitting pope to date, remained in office until he was 93. Year of life head of the Catholic Church.

Since Pope Francis took office, he has also tried to make the church more international and less Europe-centric through the composition of the College of Cardinals. But already under his predecessors bishops from Australia, Africa and other continents received the cardinal dignity. Some are already or will be 80 years old later this year. As of early March, 126 of the 227 cardinals of the universal church are now eligible to vote in a possible conclave.

George Cardinal Pell, 8. June 1941: The Australian may be the best known, but probably the most controversial cardinal to reach the age limit this year. After allegations of sexual assault, he stood trial in his home country for years, spending more than a year in prison until Australia's highest court acquitted him – for lack of evidence. He became a cardinal in 2003 under John Paul II., was later Vatican finance chief. His reforms in this area were his undoing, Pell claimed after his return to Rome. Senior church officials in the Vatican allegedly conspired against him to "destroy" him with child abuse allegations; he has not yet been able to provide evidence of this plot.

Angelo Cardinal Scola, 7. November 1941: The Italian was erroneously proclaimed pope already, a fact that lingers with the long-serving archbishop to this day. Scola had long been considered the favorite in Italy in 2013. The Italian Bishops' Conference, after Francis' election, had inadvertently welcomed the "news of the election of Cardinal Angelo Scola as Peter's successor". John Paul II. Named him patriarch of Venice in 2002; elevated him to cardinal a year later. In 2011, he became archbishop of Milan; in 2017, Cardinal Scola, a confidant of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, emeritus. is considered.

Gabriel Cardinal Zubeir Wako, 27. February 1941: John Paul II. Awarded the archbishop the cardinal's purple in 2003 – a tribute to Zubeir Wako, who was often obstructed in his ministry by Sudan's Islamic regime. In 2010 he escaped an assassination attempt by a Muslim. From 1981 to 2016, he was archbishop of Khartoum in Sudan. With Wako and Cardinals Napier and Piat, three cardinals from populous Africa lose their right to vote in this year's papal election. Their number thus drops to 15 (8.3 percent of voters).

Wilfred Cardinal Napier Fox, OFM, 8. March 1941: Pope John Paul II. appointed the Franciscan archbishop of Durban in 1992, a post he holds to this day, though Pope Francis placed Abel Gabuza as coadjutor to him as archbishop in 2018, but he died in mid-January 2021 following a Corona infection. Napier has been a member of the College of Cardinals for exactly 20 years. He is considered a strong voice of the African church, continues to campaign against discrimination in South Africa to this day and also uses Twitter to post critical submissions about the church and politics.

Maurice Evenor Cardinal Piat CSSp, 19. July 1941: The member of the Spiritan order has been bishop of Port-Louis on the island of Mauritius since 1993. All of the last three popes relied on his services, John Paul II: made him archbishop of Port-Louis, Benedict in 2009 a member of the Synod of Bishops' Second Special Assembly for Africa. Francis accepted him into the College of Cardinals and appointed him a member of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development. As diocesan bishop he is still in office despite offer to resign.

Beniamino Cardinal Stella, 18. August 1941: The longtime cardinal of the Curia and head of the Congregation for the Clergy has been a household name for German Catholics since 2020 at the latest, when an instruction from his department set clear limits for parish reforms. The letter contradicts efforts to entrust the leadership of parishes to teams of priests and lay people who are committed to the church; this was prompted by reform efforts in the Trier diocese. In 2014, Pope Francis accepted Stella into the College of Cardinals.

Mathias Peter (DR) with material from KNA

The pope travels to Chile and Peru. Why did he choose these countries, what are his topics and when will he finally visit his home country Argentina? In an interview, Christine Seuss of Vatican News explains the background to the decision.

Interviewer: Why, then, did the pope choose Chile and Peru, of all places, as travel destinations?

Christine Seuss (Editor Vatican News): Why not, one might counter. In the meantime, we know from the pope's past 21 trips that he always visits countries on the much-vaunted "periphery," where the Catholic Church sometimes forms a tiny minority and where there are open or hidden wounds for which reconciliation is needed. The fact that it rumbles in Chile should have become clear with the fire attacks on churches and the associated threats against the pope, which were carried out shortly before the papal journey.

And even if Chile is now a democracy, the wounds of the Pinochet dictatorship are far from healed, and there are also great tensions in society, including with the indigenous people, the Mapuche, who have long been denied their rights and are now fighting for them, sometimes violently. So there is enough material to justify a trip to this country.

Interviewer: And what are the central themes in Peru, where the Pope will be from Thursday onwards??

Christine Seuss: There, too, society is deeply divided, as could be seen in recent days when the incumbent president, in a rather obvious bit of horse-trading, released ex-dictator Fujimori, who should have been serving a long prison sentence for crimes against humanity.

Peru – like Chile, by the way – has an abuse scandal in the Catholic Church behind it. And Peru has a large share of the Amazon jungle, which suffers from environmental destruction and overexploitation and where the indigenous people are under great prere. Next year, a synod of bishops will be held on this topic, which shows how much this ie is also close to the Pope's heart.

Interviewer: Is there something like an overarching theme when the pope visits these two very different countries?

Christine Seuss: It is noticeable that in both countries indigenous people and their situation play a role, so perhaps one could headline it with the overall theme: indigenous people, environmental protection and Laudato si, but also justice and reconciliation in society.

Interviewer: Which program points are the most important from your point of view??

Christine Seuss: The meetings with indigenous people are certainly the highlights of the trip, this is especially true for Peru, where a whole morning is dedicated to this topic, and in Chile Francis will celebrate a Mass with indigenous people. All important points of the program, including of course the masses and meetings with priests and religious, but also the meetings with the authorities and social representatives of the country, will be transmitted by us live and with German commentary.

Interviewer: Chile is a country where the conservative businessman Sebastian Pinera has just won the elections. Abortions were partially legalized there in the fall, and same-sex partnerships have been recognized since 2015. Will the pope make political statements – what are your expectations?

Christine Seuss: We know from experience that the Pope is not afraid to address problems directly – but he also does not see it as his task to openly interfere with the decisions of politicians. In my opinion, that would also be counterproductive. If, then, he addresses such topics rather generally, with a remark on the protection of life and the importance of the family – then one understands already, what he wants to get at. He then addresses the really burning ies – such as the Rohingya during his visit to Myanmar – rather privately and non-publicly. But he certainly has a different overall focus on this trip.

Interviewer: Around 800.000 Argentines from the Pope's homeland are expected to attend his visit to Chile. He has already been to Latin America five times. Only in his native Argentina not yet. Why actually?

Christine Seuss: Heated discussions have broken out about the reasons for this, especially in Argentina. The bishops wrote an open letter last week in which they decisively reject attempts by individual camps to seize the pope's authority. The pope is a pope of all, they write there. At the same time, they express their regret that this appropriation of the Pope also culminates in insults and defamation being sent to Francis. This, of course, makes a trip very difficult, because with the pope on the ground, such behavior, i.e. attempts to harness the pope to one's own cart, would be intensified once again.

I think Francis sees all these events with a certain distance and perhaps simply wants to spare himself these difficulties – at least for now. Who knows, perhaps he will be drawn back to his homeland at some point – there are not many white spots left in South America.

The interview was conducted by Hilde Regeniter.

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