Precise details of the charges against Cardinal George Pell regarding “historical sexual offences” he is alleged to have committed may not be known until the court hearing scheduled for 18 July, according to Australian police.
Announcing in Melbourne on 29 June that Pell would be charged, Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton of Victoria Police said the charges had been served that day on Cardinal Pell's legal representatives in Melbourne and at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, where the "filing" hearing is to occur. "Cardinal Pell is facing multiple charges in respect of historic sexual offences and there are multiple complainants relating to those charges," Deputy Commissioner Patton said.
"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 and also the charging.
"So for clarity, I want to be perfectly clear, the process and the 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."
He said the fact that the Cardinal had been charged on summons, that police had taken advice from the Office of Public Prosecutions and had engaged with his legal representatives was common and standard practice. But he stressed that the decision to charge Cardinal Pell was one taken by police.
"So there has been no change in any procedures whatsoever. Cardinal Pell has been treated the same as anyone else in this investigation.
"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. 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.
"Preserving the integrity of that process is essential to all of us and so for Victoria Police it is important that it is allowed to go through unhindered and allowed to see natural justice is afforded to all the parties involved, including Cardinal Pell and the complainants in this matter,” Deputy Commissioner Patton said.
"Because of that, I am not in a position to take any questions here this morning and in moving forward, Victoria Police won't be making any further comments in respect of this matter," he concluded.
Melbourne's Archbishop Denis Hart, the President of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Cardinal Pell's successor in the most populous Australian diocese, said he was aware of the significance of the decision to charge Cardinal Pell.
"Cardinal Pell has been a friend and brother priest of Archbishop Hart for more than 50 years," a statement from the Archdiocese of Melbourne said. Archbishop Hart is to celebrate his Golden Jubilee as a priest next month, while Cardinal Pell celebrated this milestone last December.
"The Archbishop is conscious of the Cardinal’s many good works which have been acknowledged both nationally and internationally.
"It is a matter of public record that Cardinal Pell addressed the evil of sexual abuse in the Church on becoming Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 [when Cardinal Pell established the Melbourne Response, shortly before his brother bishops set up the Towards Healing protocol for the rest of the Australian Church].
"It is important all in society recognise that the presumption of innocence applies and that Cardinal Pell like all Australians is entitled to a fair trial.
"In the interests of fairness and due process Archbishop Hart will not be commenting further."
Cardinal Pell's home Diocese of Ballarat, where the Church's response to child sexual abuse was scrutinised in a series of public hearings by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, is in the State of Victoria, west of Melbourne.
In May, the Chair of the Royal Commission, Justice Peter McClellan, told the National Council of Churches in Australia that the Commission had referred 2025 matters to authorities, "almost always the police, with a view to the possible prosecution of an offender".
"At this stage we have been advised that there have been 127 prosecutions commenced as a result of these referrals," Justice McClellan said. "However, the volume of referrals is so great it will take some time before all the matters are processed and prosecutions commenced."
Ballarat lawyer Ingrid Irwin, who represents two of Cardinal Pell's alleged victims, told Fairfax Media on 29 June that her clients were "ecstatic" about charges being laid.
"For so long, these men were too afraid to come forward because of the Catholic Church's power, but this has shown George Pell is not above the law," Ms Irwin said.
"They are both feeling vindicated because it is acknowledgement. These men have been living in a grey area for two years, it was such a risk for them to go public and they've been waiting to be validated."
While Ms Irwin praised Victoria Police's decision to charge Cardinal Pell, she said it remained unclear how many charges concerning her clients would be laid or the nature of those charges.
"We are still in the process of deciphering the extent of the charges and what this means for my clients," Ms Irwin said.
"I have received no correspondence as yet as to how the next part of the process will play out."
But Ms Irwin said she had warned her clients she was not confident of a conviction.
She said data showed conviction rates in historical sexual abuse cases in Australia were declining, despite the number of cases of this nature doubling over a three-year period.
In a short statement to Fairfax Media on Thursday after the charges were announced, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, an ex-seminarian regarded as close to Cardinal Pell, said: "Obviously, the legal process must now take its course. But the George Pell I have known is a very fine man indeed."
Loading ...
