BishopAccountability.org

Cardinal Pell protests innocence en route to Oz

By Tessa Akerman
Australian
July 10, 2017

https://goo.gl/a8KRZJ

Screen grabs from Nine News footage of George Pell in Singapore.

Cardinal George Pell has passed through Singapore as he makes his way to Australia to face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on multiple historical sex charges.

Less than two weeks after being issued a summons by Victorian Police, Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic spoke to the media in Singapore and was filmed eating an ice cream ahead of a court appearance in Australia scheduled for July 26.

Sitting in a Haagen-Dazs ice creamery in the city’s up-market Orchard Road area, Cardinal Pell rejected abuse allegations put to him by a passer-by. The man told the cardinal he had spoken to his mother who wanted to know whether Cardinal Pell was innocent.

“Tell her that I am,” Cardinal Pell responded.

Cardinal Pell was also stopped outside his Singapore hotel by Channel Seven and was asked whether he continued to deny the allegations.

Cardinal Pell declined to comment.

“I’ve told you no comment, thank you very much,” he said.

Channel Seven reported that the cardinal attended a Sunday mass in the heart of Singapore.

Staff at Singapore’s Hilton Hotel, which sits above the ice creamery could not confirm Cardinal Pell was a guest.

It is not known how long the cardinal, who has a series of medical conditions that have previously prevented him from flying long distances, will spend in Singapore before making his way to Melbourne.

The cardinal was unable to ­attend hearings for the child sex abuse royal commission in 2015 and 2016 due to medical complications. Representatives for Cardinal Pell have kept his movements closely guarded and could not provide any update when contacted by The Australian yesterday.

Cardinal Pell was issued a summons for the offences last month and proclaimed his innocence in a press conference from the Vatican the day the charges were filed.

“The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me,” he said.




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