australian cardinal George Pellwho was convicted in 2018 and later acquitted of sexually abusing two minors in the 1990s, has died at the age of 81, church representatives in Australia reported Wednesday.
Pell, who came to hold the post of Vatican Secretary of the Economy between 2014 and 2019, died in Rome last night due to cardiac complications following a hip operation, the Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli said in a statement.
“Cardinal Pell was a very important and influential Church leader, both in Australia and internationally, deeply committed to Christian discipleship,” Comensoli remarked.
In 2018, an Australian court sentenced Pell to six years in prison for five crimes of sexual abusealthough in his last appeal, in April 2020 and after the priest spent thirteen months in prison, the sentence was reversed by the highest court in Australia.
Named for John Paul II
He was made a cardinal by the pope. John Paul IIwhich allowed him to vote in the conclaves to elect the supreme pontiff and, therefore, he was one of the candidates in the vote in which the current Pope Francis was proclaimed in 2013.
Pell was elected the following year prefect of the Secretariat of Economy of the Holy Seea new post created by the pontiff to tackle scandals surrounding Vatican finances.
However, who was considered “number 3” of the Roman curia, after the Pope and the Secretary of State, was followed by suspicion for the cases of pedophilia within the Catholic Church in Australia, several committed in Ballarat.
Accused of pedophilia
Australian police filed an indictment on June 29, 2017 for pedophilia in court against the cardinal, who that same day requested leave from the Vatican to prove his “innocence”.
Pell was sentenced in December 2018 to six years in prison for five crimes of sexual abuse, one of them for oral penetrationa ruling that was ratified in August 2019, although the sentence was later reversed in April 2020 by the highest court in Australia based on the “benefit of reasonable doubt”.
The investigation continues despite his death.
The lawyers for the prosecution in the civil lawsuit filed in Australia against Pell for psychological damages for alleged sexual abuse will continue with the case despite the death of the religious.
The father of one of the children -deceased years ago- who accused Pell of sexually abusing them in the 1990s is demanding financial compensation for psychological damages.
Lisa Flynn, director of the firm Shine Lawyers and who represents the father of the victim, has indicated today in a statement that she will continue with the process. “against the church and whatever estate Pell has left behind”.
“A civil trial probably would have provided an opportunity to cross-examine Pell and really prove his defense against these allegations. There is still a large body of evidence on which to base the allegations, and the court will be asked, in due course, to rule on that evidence,” Flynn says.
The plaintiff, who appears in the court documents as RWQ, assures that he suffered psychological damage upon learning of the alleged abuses in the nineties of the last century against his son, who died in 2014 due to a accidental overdose.
Source: Lasexta
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
