Pope Francis, speaking just a few hours after Australia's highest court acquitted Cardinal George Pell of sexual abuse, offered his morning Mass for those who suffer today from unjust sentences.
Francis compared the suffering of those inflicted with unjust sentences today to the way Jewish community elders persecuted Jesus with"obstinacy and rage even though he was innocent."
The Vatican had no immediate comment on the verdict on Pell,which comes in the middle of Holy Week, the period leading up to Easter, the most important day in the Christian calendar. Francis, who appointed Pell to overhaul the Vatican's vast finances in 2014, has said he would comment only after all avenues of appeal had been exhausted.
At 78, three years past the age at which bishops and Vatican officials normally hand in their resignation, Pell is not expected to return to a Holy See job.Pell had been on a leave of absence from the post, whose formal title is Prefect for the Secretariat of the Economy, since 2017.An official Vatican comment was expected later on Tuesday and it was not clear if the pope would make a specific personal statement.
In its report on the decision, the official Vatican News website recalled that Pell had always maintained his innocence and his right to defend himself until all levels of justice were exhausted.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
FIRST SIGHT OF PELL: Watch the moment George Pell is released from prison | Sky News AustraliaGeorge Pell has left Victoria's Barwon Prison after his sexual abuse conviction was overturned unanimously in the High Court.\n\nMr Pell spent 405 days in jail after an initial ruling found him guilty in 2018.\n\nCardinal Pell said he held “no ill will toward my accuser” adding “I don’t want my acquittal to add to the hurt and bitterness so many feel; there is certainly hurt and bitterness enough”. \n\nImage: Supplied\n\n
Read more »
George Pell High Court decision LIVE: Cardinal to be freed from prison after conviction overturnedCardinal George Pell has left prison. Footage taken from the Nine News helicopter, showed a convoy of fours cars, led by a white Mercedes, leaving Barwon prison at 12.30pm
Read more »
George Pell High Court decision LIVE: Cardinal to be freed from prison after conviction overturnedThe High Court has granted Pell leave to appeal his convictions, and allowed that appeal. Read the full summary judgment in our live blog
Read more »
To some Cardinal George Pell 'will always be guilty' | Sky News AustraliaSky News host Peta Credlin says the High Court's decision to unanimously quash the conviction of George Pell is not the end of the controversy because 'so many have invested so much in their campaign against him' for crimes others have committed.\n\nOn Tuesday, Carinal Pell had his sexual abuse conviction overturned by Australia's highest court after having spent 405 days in jail following an initial ruling which had found him guilty in 2018.\n\nMs Credlin said 'it was always going to be hard to find an unbiased jury' given the 'real failings of the church in coming to grips with the sexual abuse epidemic' and Cardinal Pell's 'seeming lack of empathy' when it comes to the plight of victims.\n\n'To some, Pell will always be guilty, regardless of the High Court's judgment, because all priests are suspect, and every complainant is to be believed,' she said.\n\nMs Credlin said following the initial guilty verdict in 2018 her faith in the two institutions which had 'done so much to shape my life' - the Catholic Church, and the law - had been seriously challenged.\n\n'After today's judgment, for me at least, the High Court has pretty much restored my faith in our legal system'.\n\nMs Credlin said as difficult, 'dispiriting and gut-wrenching' as the historical sexual abuse crimes which have been committed across the world including Australia may be, it 'cannot justify in the words of the High Court today 'a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof''.\n\nImage: AP
Read more »
George Pell appeal: Cardinal to keep church titles, OAMCardinal George Pell is widely expected to keep his various titles following his successful High Court appeal against child sexual abuse convictions.
Read more »
Cardinal George Pell free from jail, but not from scrutinyGeorge Pell has begun the next stage of his life at a Kew monastery after being acquitted by the High Court on sex abuse charges.
Read more »