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Cardinal Pell supporters launch public appeal to pay his legal fees after Catholic Church refuses to foot the bill over historic sexual abuse charges

By Khaleda Rahman
Daily Mail
July 02, 2017

https://goo.gl/FuFGQo

A special fund has been established so Australian Catholics can help pay for Cardinal George Pell's legal fees as he fights charges of historical sexual abuse

[with video]

A special fund has been established so Australian Catholics can help pay for Cardinal George Pell's legal fees as he fights charges of historical sexual abuse.

Victorian Police have charged the cardinal, a former Melbourne and Sydney archbishop and Ballarat priest, with multiple sex offences but the details of those offences have not been released.

Australian Catholic authorities have ruled out paying the cardinal's legal team.

However, a litigation fund has been established for Catholics in Victoria to contribute to Pell's legal fees, the Herald Sun has revealed.

John Roskam, the executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs, said he obtained an account number and BSB from people 'assisting the cardinal' and passed it onto people keen to donate.

'The point of this [fund] is that there are a lot of people who want to support the cardinal and want to give him the opportunity to clear his name,' he told the Herald Sun.

Pell, 76, said the laying of charges had strengthened his resolve to prove his innocence.

He has hired top criminal barrister Robert Richter, QC, to help defend him and will reportedly be at a Melbourne court on July 26 for a scheduled hearing.

Mr Richter, who has defended Melbourne underworld-linked figure Mick Gatto and other notable clients, told News Corp on Friday he was expecting the cardinal to be in court on July 26.

'As I understand it, the cardinal will be there for the filing hearing,' he said.

On Thursday, Pell told journalists at the Vatican Press Office he was looking forward to having his day in court after a two-year investigation, 'leaks to the media' and 'relentless character assassination'.

He said he was discussing with his lawyers and doctors about how and when he would return to Australia from Rome, where as Vatican treasurer he is considered the third most powerful person in the Catholic Church.

Doctors have previously advised the cardinal against long-haul flights because of a heart condition.

Pope Francis has granted Cardinal Pell a leave of absence to return to Australia to defend himself.

The cardinal has been living near St Peters Basilica in an apartment with a balcony overlooking a piazza where mobile stalls sell gelato and Vatican mementoes to tourists who throng the area.

He hopes to return to his job in Rome, but court proceedings involving multiple complainants could stretch into 2019, let alone guilty verdicts in any trials.

In a statement on Thursday, the Pope said it was important to recall that Cardinal Pell had 'openly and repeatedly condemned as immoral and intolerable the acts of abuse committed against minors.'

 




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