DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency
April 7, 2020
By Ed Condon
After more than 14 months in prison, Cardinal George Pell said he was always hopeful about the High Court decision which acquitted him of all charges and released him from incarceration on April 7.
Shortly after his release from prison, the cardinal told CNA that, while he had kept faith he would be eventually exonerated, he tried not to be “too optimistic.”
On Tuesday morning, the High Court issued its decision, granting Cardinal Pell’s request for special leave to appeal, quashing his convictions for sexual abuse, and ordering that he be acquitted of all charges.
As the decision was announced by the court, several hundred miles away the cardinal watched from his cell in HM Prison Barwon, southwest of Melbourne.
“I was watching the television news in my cell when the news came through,” Pell told CNA, in an exclusive interview shortly after his release on Tuesday.
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.