21/08/2019
Today's news has included the outcome from the court of appeal in Australia, which rejected the Cardinal's argument that the verdict was unfair.
First thing to say is that this seems to be a sound judgement and means this senior member of the Catholic Church, someone who was extremely close to the Pope, remains a convicted paedophile.
The looking at the story on news sites though, there was more to be concerned about.
ABC journalist Louise Milligan, who wrote a book about the Cardinal, has shared the concerns of Australian Catholics about political leaders who continue to side with Pell over the victims of his crimes and the grieving family of the victim who died of a drug overdose in 2014.
Former Australian Prime Ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott had maintained their public support for the child abusing cleric.
Milligan also referred to an article by prominent Jesuit priest Frank Brennan, challenging the jury's findings, which has been handed out to children in school. This has quite understandably appalled the parents of the schoolchildren.
The additional grief and upset that these supporters of Pell are causing to the actual victims is something they should be eternally ashamed of.
In Pell's native state of Victoria, people have celebrated the appeal court verdict. However, there is no denying the additional pain caused by Pell's supporters. A survivor of abuse by another priest has said that the support for the disgraced Cardinal had "ripped off the scabs on our wounds".
The incredible scale of the abuse suffered by young victims in Australia (as well as other countries) at the hands of the clergy is something that should see the Catholic Church opening up and admitting their countless crimes. That is not just the paedophiles themselves, but those who covered up the child abuse and shuffled the perpetrators to new parishes where they could begin continue their disgusting crimes against those vulnerable members of their congregations.
I sincerely hope that Pell accepts his verdict and stops the further pain he is causing to his victims and their families.
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