AUSTRALIA
Standard Republic
By Alexander Simon
An Australian court has begun the trial of the most senior Vatican official that has ever been charged in Catholic Church sex abuse scandals، according to “Press TV”.
Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic and Pope Francis’ top financial adviser، Cardinal George Pell، made his first court appearance on Wednesday after being charged last month with sexual abuse of multiple individuals years earlier in his Australian home state of Victoria.
While the details of the charges against the 76-year-old cleric — who has maintained his innocence — are yet to be revealed to the public، police have described them as historical sexual assault offenses، which means the alleged crimes happened years ago.
The development came after Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse revealed earlier this year that seven percent of Catholic priests were accused of having sexually abused children across Australia over the past several decades.
Pell said nothing during his court appearance on Wednesday، and although he has still not entered a plea، his lawyer Robert Richter said at the brief hearing that the cardinal intended to formally plead not guilty at a future court date.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.