@ p.dana2011>The prison regulations pertaining to religious services have been part of the over all regulations since their inception. Ministers of religion, Protestant and Catholic, conduct services each Sunday for prisoners who wish to attend Mass or a Protestant service. No prisoner, regardless of prior status in society and regardless of their legal status,- guilty under the law, on remand awaiting trial, etc. is permitted to conduct a religious ceremony. There are prudent reasons for such regulations. It should be also noted that the self same regulations also state that no prisoner can be denied access to a Minister of religion that has been authorised by the Department of Corrections to be of service to prisoners. Stalinists. No!!! Running a prison is not for the faint hearted, it requires a balance of a regimented system and the care, both physical, and physiological, of all inmates.

@aderito I assume you mean we should pray that the appellant court will find the guilty verdict to be 'unsafe'. If this indeed this be the decision, then one of the judges options could be that the 'unsafe verdict' of guilty be quashed. However, they might order a new trial [highly unlikely] or they might uphold the original verdict. The question in my mind is- What did the jury hear [recall part of the trial was in camera and a gag order put on all the media] - that convinced them that Cdl. Pell was guilty???

Andrew3186@ Please dial down the gloating over Cdl. Pell's imprisonment. Out reaction as Catholic's should be tempered with sadness and besides, the verdict maybe overturned on his appeal. If so, where does that leave you? Equally the verdict maybe upheld. But as Catholic's, we need to remind ourselves of the Gospel account of Our Blessed Lord's response to the crowd who wanted to stone to death a woman accused of adultery.

@GTVisrocking. Let me ask you a question before I respond to your question. Is it not God Almighty himself, and only himself, who truly knows what's in a man's heart? If you accept that assertion, which I'm sure you do, then it follows that our knowingness of any person is at best, imperfect. That's why I was at great pains not render an opinion of Cdl Pells innocence or otherwise. Now to your question. My only contact with Cdl. Pell was when he was Auxiliary Bishop to Melbourne [ 1987-1997] and in that capacity he celebrated the first Pontifical High Mass using the Extraordinary form of rite since V2. My wife and I, along with hundreds of other faithful, [estimated congregation of over one thousand] received the blessed sacrament from his Lordship. In conclusion one may ponder more deeply on the claims of Cdl. Wuerl, Cdl.Chupich, etc. all claiming to have no knowledge of McCarrick's 'evil deeds' Did they? or perhaps he was very astute at avoiding any worthwhile scrutiny.

The biggest mistake IRELAND countenced was its joining the EU. Spiritually, from that time on it has given its soul over to foreign entities. A case of continually 'paying the piper' now exists. Its people, especially the older generations, have forgotten what was often preached from the pulpit, a warning Christ extolled, "For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul"??? Truly Ireland has lost its way. A sodomite [not even Irish] leads the country to oblivion. Pressure from the EU on Ireland to bring its laws in line with other EU members - Namely Germany and France, brought about a paradigm shift in the thinking of what was once a Catholic country proud of its allegiance To Christ and his Church, sadly now it, not unlike Oliver Twist, goes to its new masters, bowl in hand pleading for more. Tragic! to say the least of its capitulation to anti-catholic entities.

I am an 'aussie' and I'm saddened by the result[s] of the"Pell case" not because of the verdict itself-that is the purview of the courts, from a legal perspective my opinion counts for nought- saddened for the man himself. If he is in need of forgiveness, may God speedily dispense his mercy to him. If not, then may God support him in this terrible ordeal[s] that lie ahead. Looking for someone to blame, i.e. the left wing media, is not helpful, nor are the comments from other bloggers that perceive Cdl. Pell as a some martyr wrongfully convicted. Such extremes of for and against the verdict do little if anything, to help the man himself nor indeed his alleged victims. Whatever the final outcome- he has lodged an appeal against the verdict- He surely is in need of our prayers and again, let us not overlook the alleged victim[s] they too need our prayers.