Third Highest Ranking Vatican Official, Chief Adviser to Pope, Charged with Child Molestation

Thursday, June 29, 2017
By Paul Martin

After various allegations of sexual assault over the years, Cardinal George Pell, top Vatican official, is now facing charges of “historical sexual assault offenses.”

By Rachel Blevins
TheFreeThoughtProject.com
June 29, 2017

Australia’s most senior Catholic became the highest-ranking Vatican official to be charged with sexual assault, when Australian police announced that he faces multiple “historical sexual assault offenses” early Thursday.

Cardinal George Pell, 76, currently serves as Pope Francis’ chief financial adviser. He is the third highest ranking member of the entire Catholic church.

The Associated Press reported that he is set to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 18. While Australian police have yet to reveal the details of the charges, the label of “historical” sexual assault charges means that it could have been several years since the offenses were committed.

“It is important to note that none of the allegations that have been made against Cardinal Pell have, obviously, been tested in any court yet,” Victoria State Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton told reporters in Melbourne. “Cardinal Pell, like any other defendant, has a right to due process.”

This is not the first time Pell has been the subject of sexual abuse allegations. The claims date back to before Pell was a priest, with one man testifying that Pell molested him on several occasions at a campsite on Phillip Island in 1961, when he was 12 years old and Pell was a trainee priest.

After Pell was ordained in 1966, there were complaints of his conduct in 1978, when he was Episcopal Vicar for Education in the Ballarat diocese in Victoria.

Allegations include that while playing a game in a pool, Pell repeatedly touched the genitals of two young boys who were students at St. Alipius primary school. Pell was responsible for overseeing the school, which is now remembered as a notorious breeding ground for pedophiles in the 1970s.

The Rest…HERE

Leave a Reply

Join the revolution in 2018. Revolution Radio is 100% volunteer ran. Any contributions are greatly appreciated. God bless!

Follow us on Twitter