![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/254\/2020\/02\/Cardinal_George_Pell_in_2012.jpg\")
<\/a>Australia\u2019s high court overturned Cardinal Pell\u2019s conviction on five counts of child sex abuse today.<\/p>\n
The High Court ruled that the jury should have \u201centertained a doubt with respect to each of the offenses\u201d and ordered that the convictions be quashed that that acquittals be entered in their place.<\/p>\n
From CNN:<\/p>\n
\nBrisbane, Australia (CNN)<\/cite>Cardinal George Pell will be immediately freed from prison after Australia\u2019s High Court unanimously overturned his conviction on five counts of historical child sex abuse.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe momentous decision, handed down Tuesday by Chief Justice Susan Kiefel, ends a five-year legal battle that started when a man in his 30s approached police alleging Pell had abused him as a child in the mid-1990s.<\/div>\nAt the time, Pell was Vatican Treasurer and the highest ranking Catholic official to ever be publicly accused of child sex offenses. Pell strenuously denied the charges, which he dismissed in a 2016 police interview as a \u201cproduct of fantasy.\u201d<\/div>\nIn its two-page summary of the ruling, the High Court said that the jury \u201cought to have entertained a doubt as to the applicant\u2019s guilt with respect to each of the offenses for which he was convicted, and ordered that the convictions be quashed and that verdicts of acquittal be entered in their place.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nTuesday\u2019s High Court ruling overturns his conviction on one count of sexual penetration of a child and four counts of committing an indecent act with a child. Pell\u2019s name will also be removed from Australia\u2019s register of child sex offenders.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s high court overturned Cardinal Pell\u2019s conviction on five counts of child sex abuse today. The High Court ruled that the jury should have \u201centertained a doubt with respect to each of the offenses\u201d and ordered that the convictions be quashed that that acquittals be entered in their place. From CNN: Brisbane, Australia (CNN)Cardinal George […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":35199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,750,134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic","category-child-abuse","category-clergy"],"yoast_head":"\n
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