Verdict on Pell plunges church into deep crisis

For a quarter of a century, George Pell has been the most recognisable face of Catholicism, indeed Christianity, in the public square in Australia. From seminarian for the country diocese of Ballarat in 1960 to the Vatican’s third highest ranking cardinal, no local churchman has scaled the heights of Pell. Nor has any churchman endured such an ignominious fall. Pell’s conviction in December on five charges of sexual abuse against two 13-year-old choir boys, including one charge of oral rape and four of committing indecent acts with children, is profoundly shocking. The record of vulnerable children left unprotected is scandalous.

The charges against Pell date back to December 1996 when he had been archbishop of Melbourne for four months. Yesterday the court’s suppression order on any reporting of last year’s verdict was lifted. The news probably caught most Australians by surprise, although modern communications being what they are, the news that a jury had unanimously found Pell guilty had filtered through to many on social media from overseas, where it was widely reported in religious and mainstream publications. The cardinal, 77, maintained his innocence yesterday, as he has from the outset when he returned voluntarily from Rome to face the issue. Despite his age and health, Pell faces jail, with his sentencing hearing starting today.

The Pell convictions are a grievous blow to the Catholic Church in Australia, further shredding its credibility and the trust of the faithful after years of scandals, cover-ups and damning evidence by survivors to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. After all that has happened, many people in the pews and further afield are questioning the legitimacy and sincerity of priests’ and bishops’ pronouncements, particularly on moral issues. Anger among the faithful is running high; and even higher among victims and their advocates — that was clear on the street outside the County Court in Melbourne yesterday.

Around the world, in the US, in Europe — especially Ireland — and across South America, the church is struggling to deal with the same crisis. At the Vatican, the bishops’ summit just concluded, led by Pope Francis, appeared to have plenty of goodwill; it remains to be seen what practical reforms are forthcoming, however. That said, no organisation, religious or secular, can totally prevent evil on the part of its members. Organisations must be transparent and avoid cover-ups, which for too long were standard church practice.

Pell’s conviction, while known in the Vatican since December, will be a heavy blow to the organisation. His five-year appointment as Vatican prefect for the economy expired on Monday and a day after his conviction, he was dropped from the Pope’s inner cabinet, the C9.

Pope Francis recently “laicised”, or defrocked, former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick after a church body judged abuse allegations against him to be credible. In Pell’s case, the Pope has declined to comment until the legal process has run its course. In Australia, several denominations, including the Catholic Church, are further advanced than churches in most nations in addressing the problems, which is why most cases of abuse emerging are historic rather than recent.

Pell was in the vanguard of taking action when he established the Melbourne Response in October 1996, two months after becoming archbishop. Victims were referred to a separate panel to assess compensation and offered unlimited free counselling. The process was the first of its kind in the world. In other dioceses of Australia, the Towards Healing system followed shortly afterwards. Despite such efforts, cover-ups persisted. Gross mistakes were made at the highest levels, including by Pell in 1993 when he was an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne. He walked with Ballarat pedophile Gerald Ridsdale into court, creating an impression he was on the criminal priest’s side rather than that of the victims.

A leading conservative, Pell has long been a target in the culture wars and there is understandable anger directed at church leaders in the wake of the royal commission. In our pages today, Jesuit priest and lawyer Frank Brennan writes that Pell may be “the unwitting victim of a wounded nation in search of a scapegoat’’.

Of course, Pell is entitled to an appeal and he has already lodged one. It is possible to anticipate some of the arguments that may be raised by his lawyers. For many observers, especially those familiar with packed solemn masses in cathedrals, these charges and convictions are surrounded by several curious questions.

In his closing address, Pell’s barrister Robert Richter QC said: “Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priests’ sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass.” The prosecution case is that Pell broke away after mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, and chanced upon two choir boys drinking altar wine in the sacristy. In full liturgical vestments, he pulled out his penis and sexually assaulted them. In his article Brennan suggests Pell’s abandonment of the procession would have been out of character.

“The police never inspected the vestments during their investigations, nor did the prosecution show that the vestments could be parted or moved to the side as the complainant had alleged,” Brennan writes of the clothing Pell was wearing. It will also be noted, as Pell’s lawyer Paul Galbally said yesterday, that originally Pell faced allegations from a number of complainants, and that all charges, except for those now subject to appeal, have been withdrawn, discharged or discontinued.

The fact Pell has been found guilty on five counts, however, propels the church in Australia into new territory. If the church is to win back respect and be a credible voice in the national conversation, much will fall on the shoulders of senior bishops. In the event of a successful appeal by Pell, an individual will have suffered a grave injustice. But the hurt and suffering of victims of abuse remain real and the task facing the church will still be formidable. Many Catholics have become estranged from the church during the past few decades; it will take years of reconciliation and reform for the crisis-prone institution to reclaim trust, support and public faith. Victims may never heal; many are dead. And however intense the belief in some quarters in Pell’s innocence, he has been found guilty by a jury of his peers in a properly constituted court. He is a convicted pedophile. Living with that reality will be painful for him and for all Catholics.