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Cardinal George Pell May Never Return to Australia and Face Any Potential Child Sex Abuse Charges - Because He Is a High-ranking Member of Catholic Church and Has Diplomatic Immunity

By Kate Darvall
Daily Mail
May 24, 2017

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4536068/Cardinal-George-Pell-police-powerless-return-Australia.html

Police could be powerless to make Cardinal George Pell return to Australia to face charges because he is so high up in the Vatican that he has diplomatic immunity.

Cardinal Pell was appointed to the Vatican's Secretariat of Economy in 2014, the third highest ranked position within the church.

His high ranking grants him diplomatic immunity in Australia, meaning he cannot be forced to attend court or provide information, according to legal experts.

Cardinal Pell has been accused of sexually abusing and grooming boys.

Police could be powerless to make Cardinal George Pell return to Australia to face charges because he is so high up in the Vatican that he has diplomatic immunity

The allegations date back to when the 75-year-old was a priest in Ballarat, Victoria, and Archbishop of Melbourne.

Two students claim Cardinal Pell touched their genitals while playing in the pool.

Cardinal Pell allegedly sexually abused up to 10 boys between 1978 and 2001.

The Cardinal vehemently denied the abuse allegations made against him.

Victoria police are yet to lay any charges, but an investigation is ongoing

Cardinal Pell appeared via video-link for a public hearing of Australia's national child-abuse Royal Commission in early 2015

Victoria police are yet to lay any charges, but an investigation is ongoing.

New South Wales state parliament member David Shoebridge told the Newcastle Herald Australia had an extradition treaty with Italy, but it did not include the Vatican.

'[Australia] hasn't managed in 44 years to get one in place with the tiny pretend nation-state of the Vatican that exists wholly within Rome,' he said.

'This is why George Pell can't be forced back to face questioning.'

Cardinal Pell appeared via video-link for a public hearing of Australia's national child-abuse Royal Commission in early 2015.

When he was asked to fly to Australia to appear in person, he declined, citing health problems.

The Cardinal was interviewed by three detectives from the taskforce in Rome in October 2016, who updated the evidence.

Victoria police are yet to place charges, but if they do there is a chance Cardinal Pell will never face the charges in court unless he voluntarily agrees to return to Australia, according to Broken Rites Australia.

Allegations of sexual abuse by Cardinal Pell, were aired in a book, Cardinal: The rise and fall of George Pell, by ABC journalist Louise Milligan

Victoria police are yet to lay any charges, but if they do there is a chance Cardinal Pell will never face the charges in court unless he voluntarily agrees to return to Australia

Allegations of sexual abuse by Cardinal Pell were aired in a book called 'Cardinal: The rise and fall of George Pell' by ABC journalist Louise Milligan.

The book details allegations of sexual assault by Pell against choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in the 1990s.

Cardinal Pell and his office strongly maintained his innocence.

'Each and every allegation of abuse and cover up against him is false. The book is an exercise in character assassination,' Cardinal Pell's office said.

'The decision by MUP (Melbourne University Press) to bring forward the publication of the book prior to any findings by the Royal Commission and while allegations are still under consideration by the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions is a blatant attempt to interfere in the course of justice.'

'Unlike MUP, the Cardinal will not interfere with the course of justice. He will await the outcome of due process before launching defamation action.'

 

 

 

 

 




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