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In Australia, Catholic-haters have just convicted an innocent cardinal for sexual abuse
New York Post ^ | 08/22/2019 | Julia Yost

Posted on 08/24/2019 8:49:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

By 2-to-1 vote, an Australian appellate court this week dismissed George Cardinal Pell’s appeal of his conviction on five counts of “historic” child sexual abuse. For Pell’s supporters, the decision can hardly be surprising. Given the way things had gone, a just outcome would have come as a shock.

Prosecutors accused Pell of surprising two choirboys who were guzzling communion wine in the sacristy of the Melbourne cathedral immediately after Mass one Sunday in 1996. The cardinal was charged with forcing the boys to fellate him while he was still vested in archbishop’s robes.

The allegations were utterly implausible — for several reasons well-established by the defense at trial.

The cathedral’s communion wine was kept locked in a safe, for starters, and Pell couldn’t have left the post-Mass proceedings without his absence being noticed; witnesses attested this never happened. Likewise, the choirboys couldn’t have left the post-Mass proceedings without their absence being noticed; witnesses attested this never happened, either.

Plus, the sacristy would have been bustling with activity. As witnesses testified, Pell was never alone in the cathedral while vested for Mass but always accompanied by at least one assistant. The security arrangements and layout of the cathedral, and the respective locations of the cardinal and the choir, would have made it impossible for the abuse to occur as alleged. Nor is it physically possible to expose one’s genitals while vested in an archbishop’s robes.

Before he died in 2014, one of the two boys denied that he had “ever been interfered with or touched up” — by anyone. All this led 10 out of 12 jurors at Pell’s first trial to vote to acquit. Yet at the retrial, the jurors ignored the enormous weight of exculpatory evidence and voted in December to convict him amid a climate of media-driven

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: australia; georgepell; sexualabuse
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1 posted on 08/24/2019 8:49:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL

Why Pell? Equipped with brains, managerial talent and force of personality, he had risen to eminence while espousing all the wrong opinions affecting the Catholic Church. A vocal conservative on political as well as theological matters, he doubted climate change and opposed gay marriage. A cardinal since 2003, he ascended to become head of Vatican ­finances and a member of Pope Francis’ inner circle.

With the successful prosecution of Pell, the progressive media and political establishments have their man at last.
2 posted on 08/24/2019 8:51:44 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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To: SeekAndFind

The dissenting appellate judge concluded that the sole accuser’s wholly uncorroborated testimony “contained discrepancies, displayed inadequacies and otherwise lacked probative value.”


3 posted on 08/24/2019 8:53:09 PM PDT by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: All

Nobody is innocent. All have sinned and come short.


5 posted on 08/24/2019 8:57:25 PM PDT by BipolarBob (Heaven has gates, walls and immigration policy but Hell has an open border policy. Food for thought.)
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To: Texas Eagle

Since when is it wrong for a Catholic clergyman to sexually abuse young boys?

He didn't do it. That's the point.

6 posted on 08/24/2019 8:58:52 PM PDT by BlessedBeGod (To restore all things in Christ~~Appeasing evil is cowardice~~Francis is temporary. Hell is forever.)
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To: BlessedBeGod

Well, yeah, but even if he did, so what? The Catholic Church usually rallies around child molesters.


7 posted on 08/24/2019 9:00:42 PM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Tethingxas Eagle)
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To: SeekAndFind

One big implausibility is that fags don’t want choir boys to fellate them so much as they want to fellate choir boys.


8 posted on 08/24/2019 9:11:39 PM PDT by TalBlack (Damn right I'll "do something" you fat, balding son of a bitch!)
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To: SeekAndFind
Well, so many Catholic priests do these things, that how is one to believe when one hasn’t?
9 posted on 08/24/2019 9:14:41 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I still think Pell is innocent.


10 posted on 08/24/2019 9:21:06 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: ConservativeMind

Multiple witness and circumstantial testimony outweighs a single unsubstantiated accusation in any court of justice in western civilization. Unless, of course, we wish to go back to the days of the witch trials, as seems the case here.


11 posted on 08/24/2019 9:26:12 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: BipolarBob
Nobody is innocent.

With that in mind, why do we even bother with trials? Why have a judicial system?

12 posted on 08/24/2019 9:56:11 PM PDT by pbear8 (the Lord is my light and my salvation)
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To: Texas Eagle

The bad guys won’t rally around him because he is a straight, white male who abides by the teaching of the Church. They hate him for not loving sodomy, that is why they convicted him with no evidence.


13 posted on 08/24/2019 9:59:21 PM PDT by pbear8 (the Lord is my light and my salvation)
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To: SeekAndFind

This case will be appealed to the High Court of Australia. Meanwhile Cardinal Pell languishes in a prison cell twenty-three hours a day.


14 posted on 08/24/2019 10:40:09 PM PDT by Praxeologue
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To: Texas Eagle

What an A-hole.


15 posted on 08/24/2019 10:45:14 PM PDT by moonhawk (Excuse me...Did you just presume the gender of the Earth Deity?)
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To: BlessedBeGod

Rather than howls of outrage from members of the Catholic Church, this should elicit a pause of reflection as to how it came to pass that the organization has so little credibility on issues relating to pederasty that even normally-convincing evidence in their favor is rejected by regular folk.


16 posted on 08/24/2019 11:25:09 PM PDT by thoughtomator (... this has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Just another cover up of pedo priests and their enables. The new York Slimes works for the swamp.


17 posted on 08/25/2019 1:50:50 AM PDT by x_plus_one
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To: SeekAndFind; All

Another reason to mention the impossibility of this story they cooked up is: Cardinal Pell had a routine after Mass at the Cathedral and that is that he remained OUTSIDE the Cathedral after Mass, greeting parishioners etc.

So these Catholic haters trying to frame someone, didn’t finish their cooked up explanarion story.


18 posted on 08/25/2019 2:09:33 AM PDT by PraiseTheLord (.go Q.)
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To: SeekAndFind

And leftists will continue to use lawfare against us. This is a war, folks. The left will eventually come for you.

JoMa


19 posted on 08/25/2019 4:05:03 AM PDT by joma89
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To: SeekAndFind

A conservative.

That explains it.


20 posted on 08/25/2019 4:12:21 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith..)
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