Australia's Cardinal Pell loses appeal of
child sex abuse conviction
Al Jazeera
NEWS/AUSTRALIA
Former top aide of Pope Francis is the world's most senior Catholic convicted of child sex abuse.
Pell will continue his six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys in the 1990s
[File: William West/AFP]
Disgraced Catholic Cardinal George Pell was sent back to jail on Wednesday after an Australian court rejected his landmark appeal against convictions for child sex abuse.
Once the Vatican's third-ranking official, 78-year-old Pell will continue his six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys at a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s.
Pell wore a dark suit and occasionally bowed his head as Chief Justice Anne Ferguson read the ruling and cheers rippled into the court from a large crowd gathered outside.
Ferguson said that Pell would be eligible for parole in three years and eight months, although the cardinal could yet ask Australia's High Court to hear a further appeal.
Pell is the world's most senior Catholic convicted of child sex abuse, making his case and Wednesday's ruling a touchstone moment for believers and victims groups around the world.
He previously helped elect popes, ran the Vatican finances and was involved in the Australian church's response to child sex abuse claims.
"For many survivors, a conviction being upheld against a high-profile, once-powerful perpetrator underlines faith in the justice process and the possibility of speaking out," said Pam Stavropoulos of Australia's Blue Knot Foundation, a child victims' group.
Pell's lawyers had raised 13 objections to his convictions, casting doubt on everything from the physical possibility of Pell removing his robes to orally rape a boy, to the credibility of the main witness.
The case was unusual in that it relied heavily on the closed-door testimony of the sole surviving victim.
Two of the three judges described the victim as a "very compelling witness" who "was clearly not a liar, was not a fantasist and was a witness of truth".
'Weight lifted'
A lawyer for the father of the second victim - who died of a drug overdose in 2014 - said he felt "a weight had been lifted".
"He feels that justice has been delivered today. He has a real sense of relief that George Pell is behind bars tonight," Lisa Flynn told AFP news agency.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Clare Leaney, CEO of In Good Faith Foundation, a charity and support service for religious institutional abuse survivors, said the court decision gives victims assurance that "justice is a possibility".
She said that one of Pell's victims is now hoping that the Vatican will remove Pell from his priestly duties.
She also urged all priests to "do whatever they can" and report to authorities any form of sex abuse. "Many survivors are looking to the church to actively engage in child protection," Leaney said.
The three judges also unanimously dismissed two so-called "fallback" arguments for Pell related to alleged procedural errors during his trial.
His lawyers argued they should have been allowed to show an animated reconstruction of peoples' movements in the cathedral on the days of the assaults.
They also took issue with the fact that Pell was not arraigned in the presence of the jury. The process was completed via video link so the large pool of potential jurors was able to watch.
Pell had already faced two juries, after his first trial in 2018 ended in a hung jury.
Following Wednesday's ruling Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison expressed sympathy for the victims. He said the "courts had done their job" and indicated Pell would be stripped of his Order of Australia honour.
During Pell's trial under the court-ordered veil of secrecy, the Vatican gradually removed him from top Church bodies with little explanation.
Shortly after his conviction, Pell was removed from the so-called C9 Council of Cardinals that are effectively the pope's cabinet and inner circle of advisers.
The Vatican dropped him as the Church's finance chief and opened its own investigation into his actions after his conviction was made public in February.
Aussie victims of child sex abuse fight
to wipe Fiscalini Drive from map
ABC South West Vic By Emma Nobel
Kate says she was ignored when she told Monsignor Leo Fiscalini about her abuse. (Unsplash: Twinsfisch)
Since March last year, Kate (not her real name) has been fighting to see one man's name wiped from the map in Warrnambool, south-west Victoria.
In 1972, then aged 16, she attended the confessional of her local priest to report being abused by her father. "I explained to him what was happening to me and asked him for help," she said.
But Kate was ignored.
"He pulled the curtain aside and he looked at me, so he could recognise me, and he said 'I know your father, he wouldn't do that', and he gave me three decades of the rosary for penance," Kate said.
The priest was Monsignor Leo Fiscalini, who the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found had failed to act on numerous occasions when told of the actions of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale in the 1970s.
Similarly, Kate was left in the care of her abuser. She was so devastated by the experience that she did not go to the authorities for 44 years. Her abuser was later jailed.
Monsignor Leo Fiscalini died years before the royal commission, but he has a street named after him: Fiscalini Drive in suburban Warrnambool. Fiscalini Drive even overlooks a playground.
Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale, who was jailed on paedophile charges in 1994. (AAP: Ballarat Courier)
This hidden truth
Kate, who requested anonymity, remembered when Gail Furness QC cross-examined disgraced Catholic cleric, Cardinal George Pell, and Monsignor Leo Fiscalini was named as part of the College of Consultors, the group responsible for moving Ridsdale to different appointments.
"I just broke down and cried because it dawned on me, no wonder that Monsignor didn't believe me, or shut me down, because he was very aware of this sort of thing going on and just chose not to help me," she said.
Nor anyone else being victimized by paedophile priests. He protected the criminal priests and even enabled them to move about so as to acquire fresh meat. Such a 'man of God' was he.
Kate is one of the people who wrote to Warrnambool City councillors to request Fiscalini Drive be renamed.
"For me, there's this hidden truth about him that people didn't know about, that he was party to a group of consulters who had meetings in the Ballarat parish, in the Ballarat diocese, and they knowingly moved around paedophile priests," she said.
"This is another truth about him and it needs to be brought to the fore."
Councillor Peter Hulin said the question of changing the name of Fiscalini Drive had first been raised after the royal commission.
"One chap came to me and he said he was driving around that area and just happened to come across it and just really freaked out, in light of his experience with the monsignor," he said.
Fiscalini Drive is part of the Toohey Estate, which is on land formerly owned by the Catholic Church — a purchase instigated by Monsignor Leo Fiscalini in the 1970s.
Janet Macdonald, President of the Warrnambool & District Historical Society, said it was not uncommon for street names to be changed in Warrnambool, although usually it was for practical reasons, such as rationalising the sound of the name to avoid confusion with another street.
Although it would inconvenience residents, she could see the reason behind the push for the change. "Generally, I'm not a big fan of historical revisionism, I don't think you can paint over things as easily as that," she said. "But I can understand the necessity, why people feel like this is a change that needs to happen."
Warrnambool City Council has voted unanimously to begin the process to change the name of Fiscalini Drive, starting with contacting residents.
For Kate, renaming the street would be a step in the right direction. "I think it would be a relief for the people, particularly who live in Warrnambool, who are victims," she said.
And, no doubt, there are many!
Brooklyn Diocese: 2 Retired Priests
Credibly Accused Of Sex Abuse
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The Diocese of Brooklyn says sexual abuse allegations made against two retired priests have been deemed credible.
In a news release Tuesday, the diocese announced the complaints against retired Father Charles White, 79, and retired Father Hugh Byrne, 89, were brought forward to a review board, considered and believed to be true.
White is accused of sexually abusing a minor between 1974 and 1978 while serving at American Martyrs Church in Queens. The allegations were made in March 2018 and while investigating the claim, the review board reopened a complaint made against him, dating back to 1999, was also deemed credible.
Byrne is also accused of sexually abusing a minor between 1971 and 1973, when he was serving at Holy Ghost Parish in Brooklyn – which has since been renamed Holy Spirit Parish.
The allegation was brought against him in 2017 and while investigating, the review board found another accusation made in 2006 that accused him of sexual abuse in 1996 that was believed to be true.
As a result of the investigations, White, who was ordained on May 29, 1965, and Byrne, who was ordained on June 2, 1962, have been removed from public ministry.
The two are not permitted to celebrate mass publicly, cannot exercise any public ministry and cannot live in a parish residence.
Their names will also be added to the list of credibly accused priests, which the diocese has published online.
The names of the accusers were not released to the public.
The announcement came one day before the Child Victims Act is set to take effect in New York State. The Catholic Church is among the organizations anticipating a flood of lawsuits as victims are given a one-year period to file civil suits against their abusers and the organizations that protected them, regardless of when the abuse took place.
Lawsuits name 11 more priests, nuns accused of
child sex abuse in Buffalo, NY, Diocese
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The former director of youth ministry for the Diocese of Buffalo is among a group of clergy named publicly for the first time in lawsuits filed on behalf of sexual abuse victims.
The law firms of Jeff Anderson and Associates, and Steve Boyd, PC announced Tuesday more than 80 lawsuits will be filed against the Buffalo Diocese Wednesday under the Child Victims Act, which lifts the statute of limitations in civil cases and opens a one-year window for victims to take legal action against abusers.
Altogether, hundreds of cases are expected to be filed in Buffalo area dioceses. I expect many thousands in New York State in the next 12 months. I also expect some terrific fights in court between the Catholic Church and their insurers.
Among the newly accused is Father Gary Bagley, who served as a youth minister for the diocese from 1986 to 2001. He died unexpectedly in 2006 at the age of 59.
More than 150 Buffalo priests and religious have been accused of sexual misconduct, with most of the revelations coming in the last year. Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone is under intense pressure to resign as bishop for his handling of abuse cases involving, minors, adults, and seminarians .
In a recent interview with ABC's Nightline, Malone said there were no active priests in the Diocese of Buffalo facing credible allegations of child sexual abuse.
"The diocese encourages anyone with a claim of abuse to contact the civil authorities and the diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator so that the complaint can be investigated," Kathy Spangler, a spokeswoman for the diocese, said in an email.
Priest Guilty Of Child Sex Abuse;
List Of DC, Baltimore Accused Priests
List Of DC, Baltimore Accused Priests
A Washington, D.C., priest has been convicted of child sex abuse. Plus, list of Baltimore, DC, Arlington priests accused of sexual abuse.
WASHINGTON, DC — A Catholic priest who served in both Maryland and Washington, D.C., was convicted Thursday of four counts of child sexual abuse against two children that happened on the grounds of his parish, Shrine of the Sacred Heart Parish in Northwest Washington. The Rev. Urbano Vazquez, 47, of Washington, D.C., committed the abuse from 2015 to 2017, prosecutors said. He was arrested in November 2018 (2nd story on link).
Father Vazquez served his diaconate internship at Our Lady of the Mountains Parish (Western Maryland) from 2013-2014 and later celebrated Mass there on a few occasions. He was on a list of Catholic priests credibly accused of sexual abuse against children that was released in late 2018, including the Baltimore archdiocese. (See below for a list of priests in both the Baltimore and Washington archdioceses who have been accused.)
Prosecutors said that between April 1, 2015 and May 31, 2015, Vazquez molested a 13-year-old girl while speaking with her in a parish office. In addition, between June 2016 and August 2017, Vazquez kissed and molested a second girl of 9 to 10 years old in various places on church grounds, including near the church confessionals. The jury also heard testimony from another teenage girl who Vazquez kissed in a church conference room.
The archdiocese said in a statement that it will continue to work with the Sacred Heart parish and school leadership to support the community and that the "survivors who came forward to report the allegations are provided emotional and pastoral care through this difficult time as they continue in their process of healing. The Archdiocese of Washington is steadfastly committed to the protection of youth and the healing of those harmed by abuse and adheres to a zero-tolerance policy for credible claims of abuse made against archdiocesan clergy, religious orders operating in the archdiocese, staff and volunteers."
Survivors of child sexual abuse by a clergy member that took place in a house of worship, school, or other location in the District of Columbia can call the Clergy Abuse Reporting Line at 202-252-7008 or send an e-mail to USADC.ReportClergyAbuse@usdoj.gov. More information is available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/victim-witness-assistance/report-clergy-abuse.
SEE ALSO: Arlington Diocese Names Priests Accused Of Sexual Abuse
Maryland Priests Named in the 2018 Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report:
Please visit Patch.com as the list is extensive and detailed.
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