AUSTRALIA
Mudgee Guardian
By Barney Zwartz
March 11, 2013,
Cardinal George Pell, tainted by sex abuse scandals, has no chance of becoming the 266th pope after Australian critics campaigned to publicise allegations that have long dogged him to Italian media and voting cardinals, according to Australian commentator Paul Collins.
Following traditionalist guardians quick to report Australian infractions to Rome, progressive Catholics have lobbied overseas journalists and cardinals to make sure they are aware of the 2002 inquiry into allegations the Sydney Archbishop molested a 12-year-old boy several times in 1961.
Retired Supreme Court judge A. J. Southwell was ”not satisfied the complaint was established” but said he was impressed by the testimony of both the complainant and the cardinal.
”The judge never cleared Pell and that has rendered Pell irrelevant. He has no chance,” Dr Collins, a former priest, said.
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