(Eagle News) — Cardinal George Pell of Australia who was a member of the Catholic Church’s Pope Francis’ circle of cardinal advisers until recently, had been found guilty of charges related to sexual abuse by an Australian court, according to various media reports that emerged despite a gag order.
According to Washington Post and the Catholic News Agency, news about Pell’s conviction on Tuesday, December 11, for sexual offenses came out despite a news blackout instituted in Australia about Pell’s case.
The Vatican did not issue a statement about Pell’s conviction but issued a previous announcement that Pell had already been removed from the Catholic Pope’s Council of Cardinal Advisers.
“A judicial gag order has restricted Australian media coverage of the trial since June,” said a Catholic News Agency report by Ed Condon.
The CNA report cited the story published on Dec. 11 by the Daily Beast website which “first reported that a unanimous verdict of guilty had been returned by a jury on charges that Pell sexually abused two altar servers in the late 1990s, while he was Archbishop of Melbourne” despite the gag order on Australian media.
The Daily Beast is an American news and opinion website focused on politics and pop culture, which seeks out scoops.
Washington Post’s Chico Harlan, the Rome bureau chief covering Southern Europe said that “the Vatican on Wednesday did not address the explosive case, but it did announce that in October Pope Francis had removed Pell from his advisory group known as the Council of Cardinals, along with a Chilean cardinal, Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, who is accused of covering up for abusive priests.”
The report said that Pell becomes “the highest-ranking Vatican official to face such a conviction.”
“The conviction provides one of the clearest examples of how the sexual abuse scandal has eroded the church’s credibility while ensnaring figures in the upper echelons of power,” the Washington Post reported Wednesday, Dec. 12.
-News blackout on case-
The news blackout in Australia about the conviction of the 77-year old Cardinal Pell did not, however, prevent some outlets in the country to refer to the case.
The Washington Post cited how a Melbourne paper, the Age, wrote about the case.
“A very high-profile figure was convicted on Tuesday of a serious crime, but we are unable to report their identity due to a suppression order,” Melbourne’s, The Age, wrote.
-No comment on conviction from Vatican-
The Vatican’s spokesperson, Greg Burke, has declined to comment on the guilty verdict on Pell.
“The Holy See has the utmost respect for the Australian courts. We are aware there is a suppression order in place and we respect that order,” Vatican spokesman Burke told media on Dec 12, as cited by the Catholic News Agency report by Condon.
Instead, the Vatican released a statement on Pell’s removal from Francis’ Council of Cardinals.
But the Catholic News Agency also pointed out the fact that it was way back in October that the Pope had actually removed Pell, along with Cardinal Javier Errazuriz and Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo from the C9 Council of Cardinals.
The America, a national weekly magazine published by the Jesuits of the United States, also reported about the guilty verdict for Pell.
It said that Pell was found guilty on five charges of “historical child sexual offenses.”
“The 12-member jury gave their unanimous verdict in the County Court of the State of Victoria in Melbourne on Tuesday, Dec. 11,” said the report in America written by Gerard O’Connell, America’s Vatican correspondent.
The sentencing of Pell will reportedly take place in early February next year. The America magazine said that the cardinal was released on bail.
News wires reported about the Vatican’s statement on Wednesday that both Pell and Errazuris had been removed from the so-called C9 Council of Cardinals, an international advice body set up by Francis himself, although the removal of Pell and Errazuris actually happened in October.
The last time the C9 met in September, Errazuriz, who is accused of ignoring reports of abuse in Chile, and Pell, who faces charges in Australia related to historical child sexual offences, were both absent, and the council said it was considering restructuring.
Despite being removed from the C9, Pell, 77, remains in charge of Vatican finances, the third most powerful position in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Church has been hit by a series of child abuse scandals in recent years, with widespread allegations of cover-ups, including against the pope himself.
(with a report from Agence France Presse)