I gave up God and religion in 1955, when I was 13, so I can not be accused of pro-Catholic bias. But it has long seemed evident that it was impossible for the offences of which Pell was accused to have taken place, and that the processes that led to his conviction were deeply flawed. As for the ABC, its bias and lack of standards have long been apparent, and it should be privatised.

wow, so the ABC caused Pell to be arrested?

i find that very hard to believe.

Maybe Bolt and co could do an interview with Victoria Police to verify this.

You have to wonder about the intellect of the right in Australia sometimes. Always looking for a scapegoat for just about everything.

Yes, the evidence was always problematic against any guilty verdict, as the High Court found, but blaming the ABC is hilarious

Dear Faustino,

I believe it was former judge Mr Mark Weinberg who pointed out that Pell could not have abused any of the boys because he was not dressed for the occasion.

When I was a kid I skipped school one day and went to the movies but told my mother it wasn't me she saw because I wasn't dressed for the occasion: "I mean Mum, let's face it, who wears a school uniform to the movies anymore?"

"I wasn't dressed for the occasion your Honour." Every Catholic priest in the world must be now committing that line to memory.

Only the ABC and the rest of the looney Left thought Cardinal Pell was guilty, following the appalling incompetence of Victoria Police and Victoria's judiciary, who could all give the Chinese Communist Party lessons on injustice. That state's reaching out to the communist belt and roadway scheme is becoming starkly relevant. The plunge into madness since the days of Bolte, Harmer and Kennett is horrific. And, if the taxpayer funded coven, the ABC, is not dealt with harshly for its most obscene and unforgivable fitting up of the Cardinal, the current government, particularly the Minister for Communications, will prove what gutless wonders they are. There is little chance of Victoria's Marxist government doing anything about their part in the persecution.

Actually, the above mentioned scum wanted him to be guilty, no matter what.

I have to agree with MR O and CL! It is hilarious Chris. What's next from the pen of this genius, oh, how about the ABC invented covid-19 and are sending to us via radio waves? Or the sky will fall if we embrace carbon-free (unconventional, walk away safe) nuclear power?

As for Mr Pell? He was acquitted not exonerated! I'd like to be a fly on the wall when the Pope hears his confession? If he hears his confession?

Be that as it may, (honest as the day is long) Mr Pell is not a young man and has he claims a serious heart condition that prevents/prevented him from travelling! And the honest truth! Given the medication, he is receiving for it?

And won't be able to travel for some, in any event! Perhaps several years?

Perhaps he could ponder on his possible outcome, if still in Italy and at his age?

Take care and stay safe.
Alan B.

here comes ttbn leading out with his usual insults. OLO's resident right wing bully boy.

good work ttbn. another pitiful contribution.

Cardinal Pell 7, ABC and sundry Leftists churls nil.

The High Court's decision is unsurprising in legal terms, but it leaves completely unresolved the key question, which out of J and Pell is the world's all-time champion fibber? One of them has to be.

But sure, let's do away with juries. I honestly believe the jury did its best, in a situation where home-town witnesses covered for Pell, who wisely refused to front. They knew the "opportunity" was limited, and they had due directions from a judge.

Next time I'm summonsed for jury duty, I'll just say, nah, I'm not going to sign up for a High Court bollocking, let the learned judges sort it among yourselves.

Steve, yes one can argue about whether to have juries, but a majority of three judges in Victoria's Court of Appeal also agreed.

If the jury system was to go, i doubt criminal cases could ever be fairly decided by having just one judge.

BTW, i am not disputing the High Court ruling in the Pell matter.

What made people like Robespierre terrifying was that they were not greedy for power for its own sake: they were genuine idealists convinced that they were right, and that any who opposed them deserved death.
Stephen Tempest

The sentence has changed, but human nature hasn’t. They’re out there.

Why are people blaming the police. 12 jurors who heard the victim's testimony felt it was compelling enough, even after 5 hours of rigorous cross examination by one of the best silks in the business, to form the opinion the Pell was guilty. Two of the three appeal court judges felt the same.

On top of that the 7 members of the High Court in their own words “accepted that the Court of Appeal majority did not err in holding that A's evidence of the first incident did not contain discrepancies, or display inadequacies, of such a character as to require the jury to have entertained a doubt as to guilt."

This isn't a case of false charges being brought rather a believable victim who we all should accept was due his day in court.

This was how the right wing press reacted to the announcement of the Royal Commission.

Paul Kelly: “The dismal, populist and doomed quality of Australian governance has been on display this week with Julia Gillard announcing an in-principle royal commission into child sexual abuse, a panicked Tony Abbott falling into line and an ignorant media offering cheer upon cheer. Rarely has an Australian government embarked on such a sensitive and vast project in profound ignorance of what it was doing, with virtually no serious policy consideration and driven entirely by politics.”

Miranda Devine; “It’s hard to separate the royal commission into child sexual abuse from politics and anti-Catholic agendas, in the fetid atmosphere that currently exists in Canberra.”

Andrew Bolt claimed the Royal Commission was the result of “a great onslaught of hate in the media directed at the Catholic Church – its traditions, its practices and its most effective advocate [Cardinal George Pell] in this country” and that “It is a pity that Tony Abbott seems too worried about being trapped politically as Captain Catholic to defend the church.

It is disturbing to me that a “senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Notre Dame” would be so caught up in the media hype after accusing others the same.

Police will only press charges if they think there is a real case to answer.

in the real world, any sensible government will open Royal Commissions on issues of immense social concern.

the extreme right of Australian society merely represents a tiny proportion of the population that can never win elections, albeit they get a lot of air play in certain media outlets and newspapers.

The ABC and fellow communists will be slavering over the rumour of 'new accusations' against Cardinal Pell. But, accusations are nothing. It's charges that account, and the anti-Catholic/Christian rabble should not rely on the dropkicks who were humiliated by the unanimous finding of the High Court bringing new charges any time soon.

If the High Court is correct then the sole testimony must have gotten key facts wrong. I wonder if this is an example of false memory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory
At the time of the original conviction I recall our ABC saying if you'd been in the court you would have been convinced. Maybe it helps if you were already predisposed to a conviction.

Two weeks ago I wanted to watch the advertised TV program Grand Designs Australia. To see if it had been delayed I checked back maybe three times. On two of those times they were discussing priests showering with choirboys. That's the sort of thing you'd expect from a gossip magazine not the ABC. They need to refocus.

"Police will only press charges if they think there is a real case to answer".

What a strange statement to make after what happened to Cardinal Pell. Victoria police had no evidence, no complaints until they eventually found ONE, after a lot of trawling in the manner of the notorious HRC. And, when questioned, the companion of that ONE witness at the fabricated incident, denied any offence by the Cardinal when questioned. Had that witness lived, would the Keystone Cops of Victoria continued with their non-case against an innocent man? I suppose they could have been that stupid.

Dear Taswegian,

One does get a sense after reading the Appeal Court's decision that the victim was kind of forced into deciding a specific date for the incidents. I am open to the premise that the offending may have happened on a different occasion however the robustness of the evidence he otherwise gave leaves no other conclusion for me personally than he was assaulted by Pell.

I think having the second victim spiraling into a heroin addiction within a year of the assault also gives weight to the first's account.

However I accept that in the eyes of the law the burden of proof has not been met.

S.R. Yes mate and all good, however what about the court of public opinion or humanity or the pub test? Would he pass that or a lie detection test using space-age, unbeatable lie detection technology, which can be covertly deployed to test both evidence, witnesses and witness rebuttal!

The sooner we roll these things out in our courtrooms, the sooner we can dispense with hours of a thousand-dollar an hour, Silks arguing points of law.

In due course, Mr Pell will face ultimate judgement and possibly find that our justice less cruel or lengthy?

Take care and stay safe.
Alan B.

Oh Christ Alan B!

Pell too sick to travel? Didn't he use that as an excuse not to travel Vatican-to-Australia to face the music?

Now that Cardy Pell has done his time can't he be re-transported back to the Vatican?

Pell, on the loose, self-importantly pontificating to the Australian media, like a "Prince of the Church" http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=35782

is a Cross we ordinary Australian plebs shouldn't have to Bear.

"The High Court reached the correct decision in acquitting Pell" after it was pointed out by Mr Mark Weinberg that Pell wasn't dressed for the occasion.

How does that sound?

As always it seems that The Law and Justice have little in common.

To Alan B

"The court of the public?" If that isn't the legal ssystem working in the courts, then all it is, is a lynch mob. There is no justice in a lynch mob. Which is what the legal courts were almost turned into.

From the beginning of nag there was something suspect about the court case, because it started with police advertising for witnesses against Pell to step forward. It didn't start with a case against Pell, it started by looking for a case against him. From there too much of the deal was around the Catholic Church being on trial and enticing popular opinion against Pell as a representives of the Catholic Church.

Is this not how this circus started and continued on? The people were prepped for a hanging of a cardinal. So to answer for the belief and accusations of abuse by Catholic priests. At the start and still going on the "public" had no concern if Pell was innocent or guilty. They've already made that decision, and were ready to hang him if that was a legal option. The public was shot with a dose of hateful hype and it acted as a lynch mob. Let the legal system take the ropes away from an over emotional and anti-Catholic masses that have no focus on justice. The hope from there is that the courts would not be part of the lynch mob itself and would look for guilt beyond reasonable doubt. I don't know about you but the fact that the high court had to correct the lower courts in this aspect gives me little confidance in the legal system right now.

To the rest of ya, who are set on justice against Pell.

Take account of Pell's guilt or innocence. If you do not leave it up to the courts, and "know" that Pell is guilty. Then that knowledge should be paired with some kind of evidance or experienced trauma. Either you yourself having been harmed by Pell, or someone you personally know was harmed by him. If that is not the case, then you are caught up in a public hype that has consumed you and those of your peers who "know" Pell is guilty.

Just step away from the lynch mob mentality. It is harmful to you and to society as a whole. If a priest has abused you or someone you know, that isn't an excuse to imprison an innocent man. Pell does not represent the actual abuse near you, unless it was Pell who did it. Nor is justice done by letting Pell go to prison for the anger towards a different priest. That is where things have settled as far as I can tell. It isn't about justice with regards to Pell, it's about sending someone, anyone, that is in the Catholic Church to prison as a representative of wrongs done, or wrongs assumed, by the Catholic Church.

Don't get caught up in that kind of "justice." Because there is no justice in it.

Essentially Cardinal Pell's freedom by the high court
does not mean that Cardinal Pell did not perpetrate the
abhorrent acts of which he was convicted earlier.

It only means instead that the available evidence could not
prove the crimes "beyond reasonable doubt."

Professor David Hamer of the University of Sydney said:

"The Pell case was complex and even legal experts had
different readings and views of it and the high court
decision."

He reminded us that the "very nature of sexual assault
is complex. It regularly occurs in private, the victims
themselves are often the only witnesses, there are
generally long delays before disclosure, there is
rarely any physical evidence, and the case often
centres on issues of credibility."

We also have the entrenchment throughout society of
misconceptions and stereotypes about victim/survivors
(often the victims are blamed for their own victimisation
and children routinely lieing).

Prof. Hamer says "these aspects pose a unique set of
challenges to the traditional judicial processing of
cases."

"Reforms need to move towards addressing how the system
can be more responsive to victim/survivors justice needs."

"What's to say the high court had it right?
You had a jury process that functioned, you had a court of
appeal that by majority agreed with them, and gave it
serious consideration, and a high court who saw it
differently."

"There's no system that is flawless. Juries will give
verdicts that are perverse or unreasonable and,
sometimes, so will judges."

I thin we have to understand that justice is not perfect
and it can't always be perfect. It's the case that
sometimes innocent people are convicted and guilty
people aren't. What our courts strive for is a system
that eliminates errors as far as possible. But it is
impossible to think of criminal trials as a process of a
perfect case being put to a perfect jury.

Prof. Hamer adds that trial procedures were being
continuously reformed to assist jurors to do their jobs
and to lesson chances of error.

The reality is that Pell has always been a conservative that holds traditional 'Christian' values. That is his number one crime as far as those who deny that sex outside of marriage is sin, homosexuality is perversion and that divorce is sin.

People use to 'joke' about living in sin. Nowadays if told they manifest like many of the regressives have displayed on olo over the High Court proving that Pell's convictions were a result of a witch hunt by haters.

As someone who dislikes the pope and the catholic church I find it astounding that the regressives openly now reject the rule of law. I knew they sunk low but only one thing is worse than paedophile and that is those who label innocent people paedophiles. They use the same tactics of labelling people deniers or Nazis when they know they can't win a logical argument.

runner,

Pell was not on trial for his conservative
Christian and
traditional values and beliefs. He was on trial
for child sexual abuse.

Pell was acquitted not exonerated.

Nobody is rejecting the rule of law.

The only person who consistently on this forum is doing
labeling, talking about haters, finger-pointing, and is
illogical with his drive-by comments is YOU.

Move on.

Good Onya Foxy

runner's viewpoints are more typical of a dark, vengeful, Spanish Inquisition, than a gentle, forgiving Jesus.

Cheers

Pete