Breaking: Pell wins appeal

  • Thread starter Thread starter CTBcin
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
The court found unanimously in his favour…it really makes one wonder what on earth was going on in the lower courts.
 
ses said:
The court found unanimously in his favour…it really makes one wonder what on earth was going on in the lower courts.
Click to expand...
Emotional, rather than logical, decision making is what was going on.
If one were to look at the evidence with a clear head, it was very thin.
 
Last edited:
Tis_Bearself said:
40.png
ses:
The court found unanimously in his favour…it really makes one wonder what on earth was going on in the lower courts.
Click to expand...
Emotional, rather than logical, decision making is what was going on.
If one were to look at the evidence with a clear head, it was very thin.
Click to expand...
I’m more sceptical than that even and think treachery was involved.

Praise be for todays decision! 🙏
 
Yep. We had people on this very forum openly condemning His Eminence as a pedophile and rebuking those who continued to defend him. I understand where they were coming from…we’ve been hit so hard with abuser after abuser among our clerical ranks… but this case never seemed to quite add up.
 
Indeed. It seems like it’s becoming increasingly common today to consider suspects guilty until proven innocent rather than the other way around.
 
twf said:
Yep. We had people on this very forum openly condemning His Eminence as a pedophile and rebuking those who continued to defend him.
Click to expand...
I certainly hope those who rebuked us for daring to doubt the court’s original conviction are now willing to accept his conviction being overturned.
 
Last edited:
ioannes_pius said:
Indeed. It seems like it’s becoming increasingly common today to consider suspects guilty until proven innocent rather than the other way around.
Click to expand...
Indeed. Especially so in sexual assault cases now. “We must believe victims!” I think it’s a gross overreaction to decades of society failing victims, both within and without the Church.
 
A victory and a bulwark against priests and religious being falsely accused of crimes they literally cannot prove didn’t happen.
  • Anonymous accuser. (Cardinal Pell’s accuser could be someone whom I know for a fact has a pathological compulsion to spread lies about clergy. Or a homo-erotic fantasy/fixation about NAMBLA and older men dressed as priests. I might be the only person who knows this but the anonymity of Pell’s accuser means I would never be called as a defence witness and my exculpatory evidence would never be heard. The police never sought to find every single person who attended Sunday Mass at St Pats in December 1996. Among those people could be persons who were with Pell and his accuser on the front steps for the entire time.)
  • Undated event. (They can’t disprove an accusation that has no precise date. How can they provide an alibi?)
  • Uncorroborated accusation. (Yes, this might be common for child sex abuse cases, but it it also happens to be common with false accusations too. And the enemies of the Catholic Church can weaponise the legal system to take down men like Cardinal Pell.)
This High Court ruling is a very prudent smack-down of an emerging judicial activism which has crept into the epistemic foundation of the law - judges, and the juries they lead, ignoring evidence they dislike and giving a credibility hall pass to evidence they want to believe.
 
Last edited:
Hopefully he gets some compensation for the suffering he had to endure at the hands of those false accusers. Afterwards he can go back to cleaning up the Vatican bank.
 
CTBcin said:
Cardinal Pell’s conviction was quashed in a unanimous decision by the Australian Supreme Court. He is now a free man. I believe the court made the right decision.

The Catholic News forum doesn’t appear to be working, so I wasn’t sure where else to put this.

Cardinal Pell leaves prison after high court quashes conviction – as it happened | Australia news | The Guardian
Click to expand...
Just goes to show how difficult such cases and allegations can be.

On the one hand it is harsh to expect someone subject to uncorroborated and vague accusations about something happening decades ago to be able to properly defend themselves.

On the other hand it seems equally hard to expect someone who was abused as a child to produce corroboration (given that not a lot of victims of sexual abuse, be they adults or children, ever speak out to anyone) and have precise recall of dates and times decades after the fact.

On the third hand - I want the court verdict to be a correct one, and truly would be happy for everyone’s sake to think that no abuse took place.

On the fourth hand (getting a lot of hands here!) was the fact that two former prime ministers, responsible between them for appointing at least some of the judges hearing the appeal, involved themselves in the case by writing glowing references for Pell. It leaves something of a bad taste in my mouth. I hope the fact that Pell has such powerful mates had no bearing on the verdict.
 
Last edited:
Is this the end, or is there a chance that His Eminence will have to endure another trial?

Praise be Jesus Christ! This Easter, he will be able to rejoice! I
 
catholic03 said:
Is this the end, or is there a chance that His Eminence will have to endure another trial?
Click to expand...
He has been acquitted of these particular charges, so he cannot be retried for them. That doesn’t mean he’s safe from other charges in the future. If I were the cardinal I’d be getting out of Australia as fast as possible.

Can a moderator please merge our 3-4 threads on this topic?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top