Cardinal George Pell Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Sexually Assaulting Choirboys

By Robb M. Stewart
Wall Street Journal
March 12, 2019

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cardinal-george-pell-sentenced-to-six-years-in-prison-for-sexually-assaulting-choirboys-11552439553?mod=hp_listc_pos2

Sentence took into account severity of the crimes, but was mitigated by the cardinal’s age, health and otherwise good character, judge said

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s former finance chief, was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday for sexually abusing two choirboys inside a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s.

Cardinal Pell is the most senior Vatican official ever to stand trial on child sex-abuse charges, and the sentence imposed by County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd will see him eligible to seek parole after three years and eight months. In a hearing that lasted about an hour and was broadcast live, Judge Kidd said the sentence took into account the severity of the crimes and the brazen nature of the attacks, but was mitigated by the cardinal’s advanced age, poor health and otherwise good character.

The 77-year-old cleric was found guilty by a jury in December of one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of an indecent act with or in the presence of a child. Each count carried a maximum sentence of 10 years, though his lawyers had argued the severity should be mitigated by Cardinal Pell’s age, a history of heart problems and the likelihood he wouldn’t reoffend.

The Cardinal has maintained his innocence, and his lawyers will argue for the right to appeal the convictions at a hearing in the Supreme Court scheduled for early June.

Cardinal Pell’s sentencing deepens a crisis that is roiling the Catholic Church. Last week, French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin was found guilty of failing to report child sex abuse, the first conviction of such a high-ranking Roman Catholic official for covering up instances of criminal practice. In December, an Australian judge overturned a conviction and sentence of home detention against former Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson, who had earlier been found guilty of concealing child sex abuse.

Cardinal Pell has been held at a prison in Melbourne since his bail was revoked by Judge Kidd two weeks ago, and he has been added to a sex offenders’ registry in the state of Victoria as a serious offender.

In mid-December, a jury of eight men and four women unanimously accepted the testimony of a man who said that in late 1996 he and a fellow 13-year-old choir soprano were confronted and sexually abused in one of the sacristy rooms at St. Patrick’s Cathedral by Cardinal Pell, who had only recently taken over as Archbishop of Melbourne. About a month later, again following Sunday Mass, the same boy was in a corridor headed to a choir rehearsal room when the Archbishop squeezed his genitals, according to testimony read in court.