KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
April 8, 2020
By Jesse Remedios
The Australian High Court’s decision to dismiss charges against Cardinal George Pell has been praised as a successful rendering of justice by some and emphatically denounced by others.
While an immediate reaction from a number of clergy and others associated with the institutional church was largely positive, organizations that support survivors of clergy sexual abuse varied in their reactions, with some harshly criticizing the Australian judicial system and others holding firm that Pell’s case still represents progress.
Within hours after Pope Francis offered a prayer at Mass April 7 “for all those who suffer unjust sentences,” the Vatican press office released a statement welcoming the court’s ruling, NCR reported.
Other Catholic officials excitedly echoed the pope’s sentiment.
“I thank God the Australian High Court has overturned Cardinal Pell’s conviction,” Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow, Scotland, wrote on Twitter. “Cardinal Pell has been a friend to the Catholic Church in Scotland and to the Pontifical Scots College in Rome, and I have the deepest respect for him.”
*
Jesuit Fr. Frank Brennan, an Australian lawyer who attended some of the Pell court proceedings, wrote in a column in The Australian — a traditionally center-right newspaper — that there are opposing groups in Australia that revile Pell and hold him in high esteem. However, “those who neither canonise nor despise Pell should be grateful the High Court has delivered justice according to law in this protracted saga,” he wrote.
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org — a website dedicated to documenting the abuse crisis — said in a statement that although it is “distressing to many survivors, the decision doesn’t change the fact that the trial of the powerful cardinal was a watershed.”
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.