AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Register
April 8, 2020
By Gerard V. Bradley
ANALYSIS: Notre Dame legal scholar Gerard V. Bradley highlights the fundamental legal errors that gave rise to the cardinal’s wrongful conviction.
Gerard V. Bradley
At just past 8pm Eastern time on Monday April 6 — 10 o’clock Tuesday morning in Australia — the Australian High Court unanimously acquitted George Cardinal Pell of sexually assaulting two choirboys in Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, around Christmas time in 1996.
Within hours, Cardinal Pell walked out of Melbourne’s Barwon prison a free man. His time there was spent mostly in solitary confinement. He was not permitted to say Mass while incarcerated. Before the day was done, the cardinal celebrated Mass for some Carmelite sisters. In this more-than-ordinarily doleful Lenten season, it is joyous news indeed.
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