AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Register
April 8, 2020
By Father Raymond J. de Souza
COMMENTARY: Does the Church in Australia realize that the wrongful conviction of Cardinal Pell was an example and warning to all Catholics who might be too open about their Catholic faith?
The emphatic acquittal Tuesday of Cardinal George Pell by Australia’s High Court is a moment of opportunity and testing for the Church in Australia. Will they meet the moment?
The acquittal raises serious questions for the Australian criminal justice system, as I wrote about earlier. Consider this one fact: No judge who had a future to worry about sided with Cardinal Pell. Every judge whose future was secure from recriminations for judging fairly sided with the cardinal.
At the Court of Appeal in Victoria, Justice Mark Weinberg was the dissenting judge, whose 200-page dissent utterly demolished the majority opinion, which upheld the jury convictions. Weinberg is a 71-year-old retired judge who is called in for special cases because of his expertise.
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