Clare Linane, whose husband Peter Blenkiron is a survivor of clerical child abuse, writes in response to Andrew Bolt’s defence of George Pell
I am a Ballarat local who has been living with the aftermath of child sexual abuse for many years. My husband, Peter Blenkiron, is a survivor of clergy abuse at 11-years-old. You met him whilst in Rome three years ago.
I am compelled to write to you after you expressed your opinion that George Pell has been falsely convicted.
Continue reading...Man was a complainant against disgraced cardinal in a second trial that was abandoned, and says ‘when I was told they had withdrawn the case I felt empty’
A man who says he was molested by George Pell when he was a boy in the 1970s will file a lawsuit against the disgraced cardinal in the supreme court in Melbourne, the Herald Sun reports.
The suit to be lodged on Monday is reported to name Pell, the trustees of Nazareth House, (formerly St Joseph’s), the State of Victoria and the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
Continue reading...After a ‘sleepless night reflecting’, barrister says sorry for his ‘terrible choice of phrase’
Robert Richter has apologised for his “terrible choice of phrase” in describing George Pell’s sexual abuse of a 13-year-old choirboy as “vanilla sexual penetration”.
The queen’s counsel has been widely criticised for the remark, which came during a plea hearing for the cardinal who is now behind bars awaiting sentence for orally raping the boy, and molesting him and another 13-year-old after a Sunday mass in 1996.
Continue reading...In this extract from Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell, one boy’s family tell Louise Milligan the cataclysmic effect abuse had on him
This is the story of two teenage boys sent on scholarships from what were then Melbourne’s inner suburbs to a Catholic boys’ school – St Kevin’s College. St Kevin’s is in Toorak, Melbourne’s most exclusive precinct.
The school is wedged between the Kooyong Tennis Club and the Yarra River, and closed behind grand iron gates with gilded lettering. The boys wear boater hats and navy blazers, candy-striped with emerald and gold. While the area the boys came from has now gentrified, in the 1990s it might as well have been a different planet.
Continue reading...The only question on the agenda today was how long the man who once bestrode the Catholic world will be living behind bars
The script was bare. “Take him away, please,” said Judge Peter Kidd at 3.10pm and Cardinal George Pell picked up his stick, nodded to the guards fore and aft and walked through a blank door at the end of the dock into the underworld.
Nothing his barrister, Robert Richter, argued could have saved Pell from this fate.
Continue reading...Cardinal Pell is remanded in custody following his conviction for child sexual assault, which judge calls ‘callous, brazen offending’
Cardinal George Pell has been taken in custody following a sentencing hearing in which his lawyer, Robert Richter, described one of Pell’s offences as a “plain vanilla sexual penetration case where the child is not actively participating”.
After the hearing, with Pell’s lawyer having withdrawn his application for bail, the chief judge, Peter Kidd, said: “Take him away, please.” Pell will be sentenced on 13 March after his conviction for sexually assaulting two 13-year-old boys.
Continue reading...Holy See says convicted child abuser will remain a cardinal at least until appeal is heard, but he is no longer prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy
The Vatican has confirmed that Cardinal George Pell’s position as the prefect of its Secretariat for the Economy has not been renewed, with the role one of the highest in the Catholic hierarchy.
In December Pell was found guilty of one charge of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16 and four counts of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16. The verdict could not be widely reported until Tuesday owing to a suppression order.
Continue reading...Close associate of Pope Francis faces jail sentence for child sexual abuse crimes
The Catholic church’s already shaky credibility on sexual abuse was dealt another hammer blow on Tuesday, with its third most powerful figure and a close associate of Pope Francis facing a jail sentence for crimes committed against two choirboys in the 1990s.
The news that Cardinal George Pell – who until the weekend was in charge of the Holy See’s finances and of rooting out corruption at the heart of the church – had been found guilty on five charges of sexual abuse was painful and shocking, said the Vatican.
Continue reading...George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two 13-year-olds in 1996 and 1997 at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne. Follow live updates
• Full report: Pell found guilty of child sexual assault
• Explainer: what has Pell been convicted of?
• Five times guilty: how Pell’s past caught up with him
• Journalists accused of breaking suppression order may face jail
• ‘Disgraceful rubbish’: the moment Pell reacted to child abuse allegations
Some detail on the process behind stripping someone of the Order of Australia.
in what circumstance could George Pell's Order of Australia be rescinded? per the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General
-Council for the Order of Australia investigates
-recommends action to the GG
-process can't be finalised until end of court proceedings pic.twitter.com/eUlOXYL5v9
Another blow.
Richmond Football Club has today removed Cardinal George Pell as a Club Vice Patron. While acknowledging his right to appeal, the Club has formed a view that his association is no longer tenable or appropriate.
Continue reading...Pontiff talks of ‘remorse’ and ‘never again’ but the church’s culture is impervious to change, and there will be more horrors to come
• Follow live updates on the reaction to Cardinal George Pell’s conviction
• Full report: Pell found guilty of child sexual assault
• Explainer: who is Pell and what has he been convicted of?
Pope Francis must have hoped that last week’s unprecedented summit in Rome of senior bishops and church figures from around the world would mark a turning point for his papacy on sexual abuse. The world would see that the Vatican was finally getting a grip on the issue that has caused such grave damage to the church for the past 20 years.
Such hopes have been dealt a devastating blow by the news that Cardinal George Pell, until recently the third most senior figure at the Vatican, is facing a prison term for the sexual abuse of minors in the 1990s.
Continue reading...A Nigerian nun uses her speech to the Vatican's summit on clerical sexual abuse to condemn the church's hierarchy for its 'mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency' in handling the scandal. Sister Veronica Openibo is softly spoken but delivers a strong rebuke to the gathering.
Continue reading...Sister Veronica Openibo says leaders must accept they have brought disgrace upon church
A nun has condemned the Catholic church’s hierarchy for its failure to tackle the scourge of clerical sexual abuse, saying leaders must concede that their “mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency” has brought the church to a “disgraceful place”.
In her speech, delivered at the Vatican’s unprecedented summit on the issue, , Sister Veronica Openibo from Nigeria said the church was in a state of “crisis and shame”.
Continue reading...Spokesman says guidelines for those who break celibacy vows will not be made public
The Vatican has acknowledged for the first time the existence of secret guidelines for priests who break their vows of celibacy and father children.
However, it declined to make its advice public, saying it was an internal matter. Alessandro Gisotti, a Vatican spokesman, told the New York Times that the “fundamental principle” of the 2017 document was the “protection of the child”.
Continue reading...Vatican under pressure to show it is serious about dealing with crisis at Rome meeting
More than 100 senior Roman Catholic bishops from around the world will gather in Rome this week for a summit Pope Francis has called to address clerical sexual abuse – the most serious crisis in the church since the Reformation, according to a Catholic historian.
The Vatican has sought to downplay expectations surrounding the four-day meeting, which begins on Thursday. But survivors and advocacy groups say it must deliver clear outcomes if it is to begin to restore the church’s damaged credibility on the issue and avoid being seen as a talking shop.
Continue reading...Cardinals around the world are joining the pope at a forum on tackling abuse. But only radical reform can solve the crisis
When the first meeting in the Vatican of cardinals from around the world to discuss clerical sexual abuse was announced, hopes were high among Catholics. Finally, it seemed, the courageous, mould-breaking Pope Francis was going to force through root-and-branch reforms to tackle the scandal that has done such damage to the reputation of the institution he leads.
Yet even before 180 cardinals assemble on Thursday in Rome for this unprecedented four-day summit, the chance of such prayers being answered is looking increasingly remote. The Vatican press office has been downplaying the event as simply an opportunity to remind senior clerics of the patchy efforts that global Catholicism has made this past quarter of a century to address the thousands upon thousands of cases of priests molesting, abusing and traumatising children in their care.
Continue reading...Ex-archbishop of Washington DC is most senior figure to be removed from priesthood in modern times
A former Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal has been dismissed from the priesthood after the Vatican found him guilty of sexually abusing minors in a sign of an increasingly hardline stance taken by the church.
Related: Vatican envoy faces inquiry into sexual assault claims
Continue reading...French journalist’s book is a ‘startling account of corruption and hypocrisy’, publisher says
Some of the most senior clerics in the Roman Catholic church who have vociferously attacked homosexuality are themselves gay, according to a book to be published next week.
Eighty per cent of priests working at the Vatican are gay, although not necessarily sexually active, it is claimed in the book, In the Closet of the Vatican.
Continue reading...An estimated 170,000 Catholics visited the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi for a historic mass with Pope Francis
Continue reading...Show of public Christian worship considered largest ever seen on the Arabian peninsula
Marivic Sorita’s eyes filled with tears as she spoke of her daughters back in the Philippines. She has seen them only three times in the 11 years she has worked as a housemaid in Abu Dhabi. Her eldest, now 21, had recently completed her studies “thanks to the sacrifice” Sorita has made by the separation, sending almost all her salary back home.
Maybe one day, when her 14-year-old daughter has also finished her studies, Sorita will be able to go back to Manila and be reunited with her family. But for now, she was enjoying a rare day off work for what she described as a “very, very special” occasion.
Continue reading...Almost one-third in UK see rift, finds survey ahead of pope’s visit to Arabian peninsula
Large numbers of people in Christian-majority countries in the west see a fundamental clash between Islam and the values of their nation, according to a survey.
However, significantly fewer people in the Middle East and North Africa view Christianity in the same way.
Continue reading...