Cardinal Pell's final appeal against child sex abuse
March 10, 2020
The former archbishop of Melbourne is seeking to overturn a six-year sentence for molesting two teenagers. Pell is the highest-ranking Catholic Church official ever convicted of child sex abuse.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/G. Borgia
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Cardinal George Pell will take his appeal against child sex abuse convictions to Australia's highest court on Wednesday.
The hearing is almost a year since he was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 13-year-old choirboys in Melbourne's St. Patrick's Cathedral while he was the city's archbishop in the late 1990s.
Pell, who once helped elect popes and previously held the position of Pope Francis' finance minister, is the highest-ranking Catholic Church official ever convicted of child sex crimes.
He was found guilty by a unanimous jury decision in December 2018.
In August 2019, the Victoria Court of Appeal threw out his request to overturn his convictions after judges ruled against Pell in a 2-1 majority decision.
During the trial, only one victim testified as the other died of a heroin overdose in 2014. Before dying, he never told anyone of the abuse he suffered. The remaining victim went to the police after attending his friend's funeral.
8 films portraying Catholic Church sex abuse
"By the Grace of God," premiering in Berlin, depicts the Church's attempted cover-up of a sex abuse scandal. Such cases have long been explored by feature films. Here are a few memorable works.
Image: Jean-Claude Moireau
'By the Grace of God' (2019)
Francois Ozon's Berlinale entry focuses on the true story of a group of sex abuse victims who've formed an association to break the silence, years after they were molested by a priest in Lyon. The father's widespread abuse was known by his diocese's cardinal and even the Vatican. The actual Cardinal Barbarin, who attempted to cover up the case, is now on trial and could end up in prison.
Image: Jean-Claude Moireau
'Spotlight' (2016)
Based on a true story, this biographical drama directed by Tom McCarthy follows a team of reporters from "The Boston Globe" as they uncover systemic child sex abuse by Catholic priests in their city. "Spotlight" garnered six Oscar nominations and won for best picture and best screenplay. The actual investigation also earned a Pulitzer Prize in 2003.
Dark images, silhouetted actors shown out of focus: It's the cinematography of a horror film. Chilean director Pablo Larrain tackled an explosive topic in "The Club," in which four retired Catholic priests live in a secluded house and there "purge" horrible crimes, including child sex abuse. Larrain was inspired by true stories of high-level priests who live in hiding to avoid criminal charges.
Image: Fabula
'Verfehlung' (2015)
The German film "Verfehlung" (Misconduct) by Gerd Schneider depicts how the friendship of three priests is affected by a sex abuse scandal. One of them is accused of molesting teenage boys, and the two others react to their friend's situation in different ways. The way they deal with the truth could impact not only their relationship, but also their career in the ranks of the Church.
Image: Camino-Filmverleih
'Philomena' (2013)
With "Philomena," Stephen Frears deals with another aspect of the Church's institutional abuse: women who were forcibly separated from their children born out of wedlock. The film is based on the true story of Philomena Lee, whose son was taken away by the nuns at the convent where she was forced to work and sold to wealthy Americans. Actress Judi Dench portrayed the older Philomena.
Image: Imago/Zuma Press
'Bad Education' (2004)
While Pedro Almodovar's drama "Bad Education" is a stylized murder mystery playing on different levels of metafiction, it also tells the story of a young boy being molested by a Catholic priest in his boarding school. Ignacio, the abused child, is later a transgender woman who confronts the abusive father and blackmails him.
Image: Imago/United Archives
'The Magdalene Sisters' (2002)
The Magdalene Asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were Catholic Church institutions that served as a reformatory for women labelled as "fallen." Peter Mullan's 2002 drama portrays one such home, telling the story of four young women who were sent there by their families, or caretakers, and who faced extreme cruelty and abuse by nuns. The last such institution closed in 1996.
Image: picture-alliance/United Archives/Impress
'Primal Fear' (1996)
A 19-year-old altar boy (Edward Norton, in his Oscar-nominated film debut) is accused of brutally murdering an influential Catholic Archbishop. An ambitious defense lawyer (Richard Gere) takes on his case. In the course of the trial, it is revealed that the beloved archbishop had abusive tendencies and had forced altar boys into sex.
Image: Imago/United Archives
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Defense: 'Erroneous method'
Pell's lawyers argue the judges in the Victoria Court of Appeal applied an "erroneous judicial method" that required their client "to establish actual innocence as opposed to merely pointing to doubt."
The defense attorneys also dispute there was enough time for Pell to have molested the boys, that St. Patrick's Cathedral was a "hive of activity" so someone would have realized. In addition, they state it was physically impossible for him to have pulled apart his cumbersome robes to commit the sexual acts.
The prosecution, however, described the latest appeal as "problematic," stating the defense's argument "glosses over evidence" that supports the victim's testimony.
Wednesday's two-day hearing will be heard by five or seven judges, who could throw out the case after the initial arguments. If that were to happen, Pell would have no further avenue of appeal and would remain in prison.
