Pope Francis confirms he will take no action against Cardinal George Pell while police investigate alleged child sex offences, by Shannon Deery, Herald Sun (August 01, 2016)

Pope Francis confirms he will take no action against Cardinal George Pell while police investigate alleged child sex offences

POPE Francis has confirmed he will take no action against Cardinal George Pell while an ongoing police investigation into alleged child sex offences continues.

Breaking his silence on explosive allegations levelled at the Cardinal last week, Pope Francis said he would only act at the conclusion of the criminal investigation.

“If I were to make a judgment in favour or against Cardinal Pell that would not be good because I would be making a judgment first.

“There is doubt and there is that clear principle of law: in doubt, pro reo,” he said, a Latin term meaning a defendant cannot be convicted if there are doubts about their guilt.

“We must wait for the justice system and not make a premature judgment, [or] a judgment in the media, because this does not help,” he said.

“Stay attentive to what the justice system decides. Once the justice system speaks, I will speak.”

The pope fielded questions during a short press conference aboard the papal plane, returning from World Youth Day celebrations in Poland overnight.

His comments were first reported by Vatican correspondent Joshua McElwee in the National Catholic Reporter.

On Friday church insiders flagged with the Herald Sun that immediate action would not be taken against Cardinal Pell despite calls for him to step down from his post as the Vatican’s finance chief.

In that role he works closely alongside the pope, and is considered the third most powerful Catholic figure.

Cardinal Pell has emphatically denied the allegations levelled at him last week, that claim he fondled two young boys in the 1970s while swimming at a Ballarat pool.

Victoria Police has not ruled out laying charges as a result of the investigation but are awaiting advice from the Office of Public Prosecutions.

Church insiders say the Vatican would view the allegations by Damian Dignan and Lyndon Monument as an issue for Australian church leaders.

They say there is growing sympathy for Cardinal Pell among rank and file members of the church inside the Vatican.

“Make no mistake, Australia is just the end of the earth as far as the Vatican is concerned,” one insider said.

“The view following Pell’s latest appearance as the Royal Commission is ‘my God, those Australians stop at nothing,” he said.

“George is seen as someone who has subjected himself, by fronting the Royal Commission, to something those in Rome would never dream of.”

Human rights lawyer and Jesuit priest Frank Brennan has called for Cardinal Pell to be interviewed immediately.

“If Damian Dignan, Lyndon Monument and George Pell are to receive justice Graham Ashton should commission his SANO Taskforce to travel to Rome immediately,” Father Brennan wrote in an opinion piece for

“More police obfuscation and media titillation merely risks undermining the standing and outcomes of the present royal commission and further unnecessary suffering for victims seeking justice and closure.”

Speaking to the Herald Sun Fr Brennan said if the men at the centre of the claims were to make a complaint to the Towards Healing program, it could force Cardinal Pell to step aside.

“I’m well aware there has been a lot of criticism of Towards Healing by the Royal Commission,” he said.

“But there is a procedure there to make a recommendation a person shall be stood down while an internal investigation is ongoing.”

While it is rare for the Vatican to interfere in local church issues it is not unprecedented.

Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer was forced to retire in 1995 after allegations he had abused students surfaced, as was Welsh Archbishop John Aloysius Ward whose resignation was forced in 2001 for