Cardinal George Pell Appears in Australian Court on Sex Charges

By Jamie Smyth
Financial Times
July 26, 2017

https://www.ft.com/content/e17e4000-71a5-11e7-aca6-c6bd07df1a3c

The most senior Catholic priest ever to be charged with sex offences appeared in an Australian court on Wednesday in a case that has dealt a blow to the Church’s efforts to put decades of sexual abuse scandals behind it.

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican finance chief, was flanked by about a dozen police officers as he was led through onlookers and a media scrum to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. He did not reply to reporters’ questions and did not speak during the brief hearing.

Cardinal Pell’s barrister, Robert Richter, told the court the 76-year-old would plead not guilty to all charges, which police said last month related to claims of “historical sexual offences” lodged by more than one person.

The filing hearing, an administrative procedure, lasted just over five minutes. Prosecutors have until September 8 to prepare their brief of evidence related to the charges.