Well there you go, folks. It brings another chapter of this saga to a close, in a book that’s been straight up frustrating to experience over the past few months (and years). But disgraced former Catholic Archbishop, George Pell has seen his appeal against sexual abuse crimes dismissed by Chief Justice Anne Ferguson and Court of Appeal President Chris Maxwell.
Pell has now got 28 days now to lodge an appeal with the High Court, so brace yourselves we probs ain’t fully done quite yet. But it’s a significant step towards a decent jail time for the former advisor to the Pope.
Thoughts are with anyone who is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse today, especially survivors of abuse by priests. Whatever happens today, you are believed and you are loved. #Pell
— Paul Kidd (@paulkidd) August 20, 2019
Cardinal Pell has 28 days to lodge an appeal with the High Court. #Pell https://t.co/Eto1J0fiU5
— Karen Middleton (@KarenMMiddleton) August 20, 2019
To give you the nutshell version, Justices Ferguson and Maxwell basically through out the notion from Pell’s defence that the situation where crimes were committed could not have been possible. Justice Ferguson also claimed that Pell was definitely not a scapegoat for the entire Catholic Church’s pretty murky history with child abuse (but that reputation wasn’t helped with these comments from the Melbourne Archbishop).
Hey @ScottMorrisonMP
Given today’s outcome of the #Pell Appeal, I think it’s time you started the process of removing Pell’s ‘Companion of the Order of Australia’ & ‘Centenary Medal’ awards.
You might want to recommend The Pope removes his title of Cardinal too.
🐝#auspol— 💧Bee🐝 (@BelindaJones68) August 20, 2019
The Government has chosen not to comment on the latest verdict in the case, probably wise to be honest. The decision’s been received with a lot of joy online – Twitter has been pretty joyous with the news, and honestly we really should just be thinking of all the victims of these sad, terrible crimes.
Image Source: Twitter @martelf
