Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell has been committed to stand trial over historical sexual abuse charges in Australia.
Magistrate Belinda Wallington ruled earlier today that there is enough evidence for a trial to proceed on about half of the original charges Pell was facing from a number of complainants.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
When asked to enter a plea, Pell said: “Not guilty”.
Among the charges that were dismissed were allegations that Pell had committed sexual offences at a chapel and a cinema in Ballarat, a nearby city, in the 1970s while he was a priest in the area.
The 76-year-old’s lawyer, Robert Richter QC, said the most “vile” of the charges against Pell had been dropped.
Pell was released on bail, with conditions set that he will not be allowed to leave Australia. Pell has already forfeited his passport.
The ABC reports that the Cardinal faces “a directions hearing in the County Court tomorrow morning, when it is expected a date will be set for a trial before a jury”.
Pell was originally charged with historical sexual abuse in June 2017, and was given leave by Pope Francis to step aside from his position at the Vatican to return to Australia to contest the charges.
-
Political cartoons for January 29Cartoons Thursday's political cartoons include 2nd amendment dibs, disturbing news, and AI-inflated bills
-
The Flower Bearers: ‘a visceral depiction of violence, loss and emotional destruction’The Week Recommends Rachel Eliza Griffiths’ ‘open wound of a memoir’ is also a powerful ‘love story’ and a ‘portrait of sisterhood’
-
Steal: ‘glossy’ Amazon Prime thriller starring Sophie TurnerThe Week Recommends The Game of Thrones alumna dazzles as a ‘disillusioned twentysomething’ whose life takes a dramatic turn during a financial heist
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
