About George Pell.

To commit the crime that George Pell was convicted of, he would have had to have the capabilities of some sort of a superhero.  This is why it is simply not feasible.



But the scales of justice were so weighted down by a deep anger at the history of crimes committed by the clergy, that the evidence has simply not been properly weighed.

On social media, any defense of the man is met by accusations of condoning paedophilia, of assertions that the man is so vile that the particular allegation is unimportant and that he should 'rot in prison.'

There are  appeals to think of the agony of victims of sexual abuse. 

But the pain of the victims of other crimes is not relevant to this case.  Our justice system doesn't work that way.  All that needed to be judged was if this man had committed this particular crime.  And that judgement is questionable, to say the very least!

George Pell has recently been granted leave to appeal to the High Court.

I happened to see a discussion on facebook about the case, and there was a detailed comment by John Macaulay. He kindly granted me permission to share it. I have not previously seen the circumstances put in quite such a telling way.

John Macaulay is highly qualified in more than one area, and is very knowledgeable. He has been deeply involved in this case, and as a Catholic and former altar boy, knows a lot more about procedures when conducting Mass than a lay person.


  This comment is by John Macaulay -

About the crime attributed to Pell:

What sort of freak is capable of:

1) Being at two ends of his cathedral at the same time, greeting parishioners at the Western transept while chasing two 13 year old boy-sopranos through the sacristy 200 meters away across a packed cathedral
2) Holding two boys down with both his hands while using his third hand to insert his erect penis into the open mouth of a chorister, then simultaneously committing the crime of onanism on himself while groping the other lad, all at a virile 55 years of age
3) Was capable of doing all this while dressed in a cassock, covered with a seamless alb, which itself was covered with his heavy priestly chasuble and tied down with a cincture with five knots, while holding his episcopal crook and balancing his ornate mitre on his head
4) That Pell did all this within minutes of concluding his first Solemn High Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral so soon after being appointed Archbishop, mobbed by hordes of conservative Catholics who finally saw in him a bishop who seemed to believe in God
5) That this supposedly happened on 'any' Sunday between July and December, despite the cathedral being closed for restoration for the first 23 weeks of this speculative window which arches from the depths of winter to the heat of summer
6) Despite 20 *police* witnesses admitting the implausibility of the accusation and Pell not calling a single witness so confident was he that this spurious case would collapse under the weight of its own implausibility
7) Despite there being no evidence nor a single witness to corroborate the sole complainant's fantastical claims
8) Claims that even went so far as to paint a deceased man into such a pornographic picture, despite “M.R.” saying he was never abused, even when such an assertion would have reduced his own sentence on an unrelated drugs charge a few years earlier
9) All the while ignoring the successive changes to critical details in the sole accuser’s testimony, including insistence that he was caught swigging sweet red altar wine, despite the cathedral only using dry white wine and despite the cathedral sacristy being a hive of activity with very clear lines of sight.  

10) Despite the immemorial custom, indeed necessity, of a metropolitan archbishop in full regalia always being flanked by his master of ceremonies, his deacon, his assisting priest, and two altar servers, one to hold his crozier and another for his mitre before they are ceremonially handed to the sacristan and assistant sacristan
11) Despite Pell having instigated an independent commission into the despicable crimes of a number of Melbourne clergy, including a request for the Victorian Police to assist it in developing the commission's protocols. A request subsequently refused
12) Despite Pell belonging to a religion whose founder declaimed "If anyone causes scandal to one of these little ones, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea"

When first presented with this sordid picture, while serving as Rome’s third highest ranking official, Pell responded with characteristic candour “what a load of absolute and disgraceful rubbish, completely false, madness” and voluntarily returned home to defend his good name & reputation deciding not to use his diplomatic immunity.

I attended Pell’s trial, retrial and appeal and I was his altar server in that same cathedral in the late nineties, I too can emphatically respond 'what a load of absolute and disgraceful rubbish, completely false, madness'

As a kid I came across creepy blokes that my gut instinct said to steer clear of. As my local bishop, Pell was nothing of the sort. He was mostly affable, sometimes aloof and occasionally grumpy, given how many people & priorities were constantly vying for his attention.

After 20 years of incitement from a mendacious media, a corrupt police force and grandstanding public prosecutors, may God help any cleric, Catholic or conservative who is hauled before a jury in Melbourne in the years ahead.

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It is sometimes assumed that anyone who expresses doubt about Pell's guilt are devout Catholics. But one does not have to be Catholic, or even Christian to expect justice from our justice system.

Poor Pell will probably spend another year or so in prison before the date of his High Court Hearing.

Pell is not a superhero, he is just a man.  He is an old man in a prison with the most vile of criminals.  I hope he survives long enough to be exonerated.

And this charge - what Pell himself said -
“what a load of absolute and disgraceful rubbish, completely false, madness.”   

And so it is. 

UPDATE:  

7th April, 2020.   The High Court of Australia has finally given its decision.  George Pell is a free man.  The seven judges of the High Court were unanimous in their decision.  There has been a miscarriage of justice, and an old man spent over a year in prison for a crime that he did not do.  The idea that 'victims' should invariably be believed is proven false once again. 

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