The third time under the firing line for sexual abuse & failing to prevent it, Cardinal George Pell, the third-highest ranking member of the Vatican hand picked by Pope Francis (despite having knowledge of previous allegations) and the top Catholic official ever to go to trial over the church’s sex abuse scandal, was found guilty Tuesday December 11, on five charges of “historical child sexual offenses’ which include sexually abusing two choir boys in the late 1990s.
Silence surrounded the “the cathedral trial” through the gag order placed by the judge who resided on the case with media remaining silent on the fact why Pell was removed from the inner circle of the Pope’s advisers on Wednesday December 12 along with Chilean Cardinal Javier Errazuriz another high official sentenced for sexual abuse . In a court session on Thursday, Judge Kidd told defense and prosecution attorneys that some members of the news media are facing “the prospect of imprisonment and indeed substantial imprisonment” if found guilty of breaching his gag order. He did not name names.
The trail is split into two parts. The second trial is expected to take place early in 2019, possibly around mid-February or early March, after the sentencing related to the first verdict has taken place.
Media world wide was silent with reports surrounding Pell going to hospital with a knee problem and being cut from the Pope’s inner circle without giving any reasons for the dismissal.