New Details Expose Sordid Trial Against Cardinal Pell
Pell was found "guilty" on December 11 of having "abused" two choristers of the Melbourne cathedral choir immediately following a 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass in the cathedral's sacristy which after Mass is full of people.
Prosecutors were not even able to identify a date and talked about "a period between August and December 1996".
One of the "victims" told his mother at least twice that he had never been sexually abused before he died of a drug overdose in 2014. The other who was present in court, told the mother only after her son died, about the "abuses".
As Melbourne Archbishop, Pell usually celebrated the 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass at which the choir regularly sang. However, between August and December 1996, this happened only twice because of restoration works.
On both of the occasions, the choir held practices immediately following the Mass so that the absence of two choristers would have been immediately noticed.
In one of these Sundays, Pell had been with guests immediately following Mass.
A priest who was present every time when Pell celebrated Mass in the cathedral, told police, “At no time before, during or after Mass was the Archbishop in direct contact with anyone except that I was present."
Another witness told the court that Pell required help to remove his vestments after Mass and therefore could not have been alone there.
The same witness told Victoria police that the layout of the cathedral did not align with the accusations.
The judge excluded the defence from discussing in court anything which could bear upon the credibility of the [lying] accuser.
Picture: George Pell, © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk, CC BY-SA, #newsCwrxirreaw
