NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
Newcastle Herald
Sept 21, 2019
By Paul Osborne
He may have been a “small, powerless, adolescent soprano”, but his voice will resonate for many years to come.
J, as he is known, is the central figure in Fallen – the first major book on the George Pell court case, written by Lucie Morris-Marr
Pell was convicted by a 12-member jury in December of sexually abusing J and another 13-year-old choirboy at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996.
The second victim died after a drug overdose in 2014, but J was able to tell their story to police, a court and the world via the media.
The 78-year-old cardinal was sentenced to jail in March but is now taking the matter to the High Court, having failed to win an appeal.
Morris-Marr says whatever the result of Pell’s High Court challenge, J would have made a difference.
“My sources in Rome say, yes, this is being taken very seriously,” she told AAP.
“When Pope Francis announced the summit (on clerical sexual abuse) … he realised if it was seen by the public that he wasn’t doing something, it would affect his papacy and legacy.
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.