Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic and the third-ranking official in the Vatican, has been charged with multiple sexual offences by police.

The charges were served on Pell’s legal representatives in Melbourne on Thursday and they have been lodged also at Melbourne magistrates court. He has been ordered to appear at the court on 18 July.

“Cardinal Pell is facing multiple charges … and there are multiple complainants,” Victoria police’s deputy commissioner Shane Patton said. The charges were “historical sexual assault offences”.

In a statement released by the Catholic archdiocese of Sydney 90 minutes after the charges were announced, Pell announced he would “return to Australia, as soon as possible, to clear his name”. </s> Cardinal George Pell gestures as he talks during a news conference for the presentation of new president of Vatican Bank IOR, at the Vatican July 9, 2014. Source: Reuters/Tony Gentile

POLICE in Australia have charged the Vatican’s treasurer cardinal George Pell over sexual assault allegations from several people.

The 76-year-old priest, who is a top adviser to the Pope on financial matters and Australia’s most senior clergyman, was charged on Thursday by Victoria Police over “historical sexual assault offences.”

Pell has long denied any involvement in the sexual abuse of children, which Australian media has reported allegedly occurred from the 1970s to 1990s.

“During the course of the investigation in relation to Cardinal Pell, there has been a lot of reporting in the media and a lot of speculation about the process that has been involved in the investigation,” said Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton of Victoria Police on Thursday.

“For clarity, I want to be perfectly clear, the process and procedures that are being followed in the charging of Cardinal Pell have been the same that have been applied in a whole range of historical sex offences whenever we investigate them.”

SEE ALSO: Australia: Investigation finds 4,000 institutions implicated in child sex abuse

“Cardinal Pell, like any other defendant, has a right to due process and so therefore it is important that the process is allowed to run its natural course,” said Patton.

A statement issued by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney reiterated that Pell has “strenuously denied all allegations.”

“Cardinal Pell will return to Australia, as soon as possible, to clear his name following advice and approval by his doctors who will also advise on his travel arrangements,” said the statement.

Pell had previously refused to return to Australia to report to the country’s Royal Commission into Child Abuse, which found some 4000 predominantly-religious institutions implicated in the sexual abuse of children, claiming to be too sick to travel.

In February, a motion was presented in the Australian Senate calling upon the cardinal to return to Australia to cooperate with police over allegations against him.

Pell will be required to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 18 for a filing hearing. He will issue a public statement in Rome later today. </s> Australia's Cardinal George Pell has been charged by police with multiple sexual assault offences apparently dating back as far as the 1970s. He is currently prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy at the Vatican and supposedly third in the Church hierarchy. He is a close advisor of Pope Francis.

Global online reactions were swift. Cathy M Helsley, who is from the US state of Ohio and identifies herself as a “child of God”, tweeted:

Hilly is clearly no fan of Pell:

Peter Chambers, a “conservative to the core”, defended the cardinal:

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has indicated that he will return home to clear his name. They issued a statement that he will return “following advice and approval by his doctors who will also advise on his travel” arrangements.

In February 2016, Pell gave evidence to the Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse via video link from Rome. He was questioned about his knowledge of and response to allegations of child sex abuse within the Church. He had claimed that ill-health prevented him from flying home.

Given that context, the latest news brought out some cynics:

According to a police spokesperson, the charges are based on multiple complainants. There has been a long history of allegations of child abuse against Pell. The case will open in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on July 18. The details of the charges are not yet public. </s> SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Catholic Church in Australia said on Thursday Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican treasurer, “strenuously denies” multiple sexual assault offences brought against him by Australian police.

“Cardinal Pell will return to Australia, as soon as possible, to clear his name following advice and approval by his doctors who will also advise on his travel arrangements,” the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney said in a statement.

“He said he is looking forward to his day in court and will defend the charges vigorously,” it said.

Australian police charged Pell by summons on Thursday to appear before Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 18. [nL3N1JQ04L] </s> The third-ranking official in the Catholic Church, Cardinal George Pell, has said he will strenuously defend himself against allegations of sexual assaults.

"I'm looking forward finally to having my day in court," he said on Thursday.

On Friday, Australian police confirmed his first opportunity would be on 26 July - eight days later than first scheduled - when he is due to appear at a hearing in Melbourne.

The process is expected to draw intense international interest.

What do we know about the accusations?

Little at this stage. Police in the state of Victoria said Cardinal Pell, 76, was accused of "historical" assaults and there were "multiple complainants".

But they did not detail the charges or specify the number of alleged victims.

A magistrate will decide next week whether to make details of the alleged incidents public.

Why is this happening now?

In February, police handed a brief of evidence to state prosecutors seeking legal advice.

Prosecutors gave their input last month, and police said they would "take time to consider the advice".

On Thursday, they decided to serve charges on Cardinal Pell's legal representatives in Melbourne.

Cardinal Pell complained that he had been subjected to "relentless character assassination" during a two-year investigation into the "false" claims.

How long will the legal process take?

Melbourne-based media lawyer Justin Quill predicts it could be lengthy, potentially lasting years.

He also said it would be common - in legal process terms - for Cardinal Pell not to appear in person at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 26 July.

"It will only be an initial hearing on procedural issues and it is normal for a defendant not to be present - especially where they normally reside overseas," he told the BBC.

Cardinal Pell was questioned by Australian detectives in the Vatican last year after saying he was too unwell to take a long flight to Australia.

In a statement on Thursday, the Vatican treasurer said he would return to Australia "to clear his name following advice and approval by his doctors who will also advise on his travel arrangements".

Who will pay the legal costs?

Not the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, according to the cleric who succeeded Cardinal Pell as archbishop of the Australian city.

"While the Archdiocese will assist with the Cardinal's accommodation and support, as it would for any of its bishops or priests, it is not responsible for the Cardinal's legal bills arising from these matters," said Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher.

"Victims should be listened to with respect and compassion, and their complaints investigated and dealt with according to law."

Will it damage the Church?

The Catholic Church worldwide has in recent years faced a damaging series of allegations relating to sex abuse by priests, and claims that these cases were covered up.

Father Kevin Dillon, a Catholic priest and vocal supporter of abuse survivors, said the charges would have a "devastating impact" on morale in the Church.

"The whole abuse saga has been so ugly for so long, and now this," he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

"So many Catholics will be devastated that these complaints have reached such heights in the Church."

The BBC's David Willey said the saga is seen as a punishing body-blow to the reputation and credibility of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church. </s> Australian Cardinal George Pell, who used to be the third most powerful figure in the Vatican, was found guilty of child sexual abuses by a jury in Melbourne, judicial sources announced Tuesday.

Pell, the highest-ranking priest of the Australian Catholic Church, raped a 13-year-old altar boy in the 1990s and sexually abused another boy of the same age at the prestigious St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne. </s> • George Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic cleric, has been convicted of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996 and 1997 at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
• Pell was the archbishop of Melbourne at the time and until recently, also one of Pope Francis' closest advisors.
• The conviction was handed down by the Victorian County Court in December last year but a suppression order prevented media outlets in Australia from reporting his identity until now.
• Pell's legal team indicated they would appeal the conviction. He will attend a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday and is expected to be sentenced in the next two weeks.

George Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic cleric, has been convicted of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996 and 1997 at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Pell was the archbishop of Melbourne at the time and until recently, also one of Pope Francis' closest advisors. His conviction will send shockwaves through the Catholic Church, which has been trying to deal with the implications and widespread damage of institutional sexual abuse.

The conviction was handed down by the Victorian County Court in December last year but a suppression order prevented media outlets in Australia from reporting his identity until now.

Pell was found guilty of sexual penetration of a child under 16 years old and four counts of an indecent act with or in the presence of a child, according to the ABC.

Pell's legal team indicated they would appeal the conviction. He will attend a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday and is expected to be sentenced in the next two weeks.

The Sydney Morning Herald has the full details » </s> Australian police charged a top Vatican cardinal on Thursday with multiple counts of historical sexual assault offenses, a stunning decision certain to rock the highest levels of the Holy See.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ chief financial adviser and Australia’s most senior Catholic, is the highest-ranking Vatican official to ever be charged in the church’s long-running sexual abuse scandal.

Victoria state Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said police have summonsed Pell to appear in an Australian court to face multiple charges of “historic sexual offenses,” meaning offenses that generally occurred some time ago. Patton said there are multiple complainants against Pell, but gave no other details on the allegations against the cardinal. Pell was ordered to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 18.

Pell has repeatedly denied all abuse allegations made against him. The Catholic Church in Australia, which issues statements on Pell’s behalf, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the charges.

“It is important to note that none of the allegations that have been made against Cardinal Pell have, obviously, been tested in any court yet,” Patton told reporters in Melbourne. “Cardinal Pell, like any other defendant, has a right to due process.”

The charges are a new and serious blow to Pope Francis, who has already suffered several credibility setbacks in his promised “zero tolerance” policy about sex abuse.

For years, Pell has faced allegations that he mishandled cases of clergy abuse when he was archbishop of Melbourne and, later, Sydney. His actions as archbishop came under intense scrutiny in recent years by a government-authorized investigation into how the Catholic Church and other institutions have responded to the sexual abuse of children. Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse — the nation’s highest form of inquiry — has found shocking levels of abuse in Australia’s Catholic Church, revealing earlier this year that 7 percent of Catholic priests were accused of sexually abusing children over the past several decades.

Last year, Pell acknowledged during his testimony to the commission that the Catholic Church had made “enormous mistakes” in allowing thousands of children to be raped and molested by priests. He conceded that he, too, had erred by often believing the priests over victims who alleged abuse. And he vowed to help end a rash of suicides that has plagued church abuse victims in his Australian hometown of Ballarat.

But more recently, Pell himself became the focus of a clergy sex abuse investigation, with Victoria detectives flying to the Vatican last year to interview the cardinal. It is unclear what allegations the charges announced Thursday relate to, but two men, now in their 40s, have said that Pell touched them inappropriately at a swimming pool in the late 1970s, when Pell was a senior priest in Melbourne.

Australia has no extradition treaty with the Vatican. That leaves two likely outcomes: Either Pell volunteers to return to Australia to fight the charges, or the Vatican could tell the cardinal to do so, said Donald Rothwell, an international law expert at the Australian National University.

“I would think that the pope would be very concerned to think that one of his cardinals, and someone who holds a high position within the Vatican government structure, is being wanted on criminal charges in Australia,” Rothwell said in a recent interview. “So if the pope was to say, ‘Well look, Cardinal Pell, I’d like you to return to Australia and mount a defense,’ I’m sure Cardinal Pell would probably follow that instruction. … In the case of someone like Cardinal Pell, the sway that the pope and the church has over him is much greater than the ordinary citizen.”

The charges put Pope Francis in a thorny position. In 2014, Francis won cautious praise from victims’ advocacy groups when he created a commission of outside experts to advise him and the broader church about “best practices” to fight abuse and protect children.

But the commission has since lost much of its credibility after its two members who were survivors of abuse left. Francis also scrapped the commission’s signature proposal — a tribunal section to hear cases of bishops who covered up for abuse — after Vatican officials objected.

In addition, Francis drew heated criticism for his 2015 appointment of a Chilean bishop accused by victims of helping cover up for Chile’s most notorious pedophile. The pope was later caught on videotape labeling the parishioners who opposed the nomination of being “leftists” and “stupid.”

When Francis was asked last year about the accusations against Pell, he said he wanted to wait for Australian justice to take its course before judging. “It’s true, there is a doubt,” he told reporters en route home from Poland. “We have to wait for justice and not first make a mediatic judgment — a judgment of gossip — because that won’t help.”

“Once justice has spoken, I will speak,” he said.

Francis appointed Pell in 2014 to a five-year term to head the Vatican’s new economy secretariat, giving him broad rein to control all economic, administrative, personnel and procurement functions of the Holy See. The mandate has since been restricted to performing more of an oversight role.

It remains to be seen how Pell — and the pope — will respond to the developments.

Given Francis’ credibility is on the line, any decision to keep Pell on as prefect while facing charges would reflect poorly on Francis, given he remains one of the pope’s top advisers.

At the same time, the Vatican has a history of shielding its own: When Cardinal Bernard Law resigned in disgrace in 2002 over his cover-up of abuse in Boston, victims expressed outrage that St. John Paul II gave him a plum position as archpriest of a Rome basilica.

The transfer spared Law what would likely have been years of litigation and testimony in U.S. courts as victims sued the archdioceses for their abuse, though Law himself was never criminally charged with wrongdoing.

In the 1980s, the Vatican refused to cooperate with Italian investigators when one of its officials, Archbishop Paul C. Marcinkus, was indicted over a banking scandal. The Vatican successfully cited his diplomatic immunity. </s> MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian court on Wednesday upheld the sexual abuse conviction of Cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader ever found guilty in a criminal court in the church’s child sex abuse crisis.

The cardinal, 78, once an adviser to Pope Francis, was sentenced to six years in prison in March.

“He will continue to serve his sentence,” said Chief Justice Anne Ferguson of the Supreme Court of the state of Victoria in Melbourne, who presided over the case with two other top judges.

Cardinal Pell was found guilty in December of molesting two 13-year-old boys after a Sunday Mass in 1996 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, and groping one of them again months later. A gag order meant the verdict was not unsealed until February, after a second trial involving Cardinal Pell was canceled.

The case has garnered broad attention both for its secrecy and the precedent it set. Abuse survivors had hailed the conviction as proof that judicial systems can hold even the most senior prelates accountable in the global child sexual abuse scandal that has stained the church’s image.
Victoria Police charge Cardinal George Pell, the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, and the third most senior official of the Catholic Church, with historic child sex offences. Pell will be required to attend hearings at the Melbourne Magistrates Court in Australia on July 19.