Vatican Cardinal Guilty On Multiple Child Sex Charges

Pope Francis with Cardinal George Pell.

The already besieged Roman Catholic Church was just hit with a major earth tremor as Cardinal George Pell, formerly Australia's highest ranking cleric, and Vatican treasurer and adviser to the Pope, has been convicted on multiple charges of sexual abuse of minors.  The rot and cover ups truly go all the way up to the highest levels of the Vatican.  Pell like other sexual predators was elevated to the rank of cardinal by the far from saintly John Paul II, who the Vatican ridiculously fast tracked to sainthood under former Pope Benedict XVI who protected predators while launch a war against normal, well adjusted and non-predator gays and lesbians.  CNN looks at this damning conviction which hopefully will force Pope Francis to begin a long, long over due house cleaning of the ranks of the hierarchy.  If Francis fails to do this, it will be clear that his claims of ending the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy will mean nothing.  Here are article excerpts:

One of the most powerful men in the Roman Catholic Church was found guilty of multiple historical child sex offenses at a secret trial in Melbourne in December, the existence of which can only now be revealed.

Australian Cardinal George Pell, 77, is almost certain to face prison after a jury found him guilty of one charge of sexual penetration of a child and four charges of an indecent act with or in the presence of a child in the late 1990s.

The conviction of Pell, the Vatican treasurer and a close adviser to Pope Francis, will send shockwaves through the church, which is already reeling from accusations of sexual abuse committed by priests worldwide.

Pell is the most senior Catholic official to be found guilty of child sex offenses to date. His conviction brings the escalating international controversy around the abuse of children in Catholic institutions straight to the doors of the Holy See.

A court order banning media reporting of Pell's five-week long trial, which began in November 2018, was lifted by Chief Judge Peter Kidd on Tuesday.

The prosecution's case hinged on the testimony of one man, who said Pell sexually abused him and another boy in Melbourne's historic St. Patrick's Cathedral after mass one Sunday.

Pell has repeatedly maintained his innocence. His legal team confirmed on Tuesday they had filed an appeal against the guilty verdict.

The Vatican has yet to comment on the verdict. Pope Francis quietly removed Pell from his small council of advisors for "reasons of advancing age" in December, before the news of the cardinal's conviction became public.

Pell is due to be sentenced at a separate hearing in March.

Pell's conviction is a stunning fall of grace for a man who once ran the Catholic Church in Australia with an iron fist. . . . He was made Archbishop of Melbourne by Pope John Paul II in 1996. While in the post, Pell created a program to respond to the increasing tide of sexual abuse allegations against priests.

But Pell's "Melbourne Response" program was criticized for capping compensations to victims at just tens of thousands of Australian dollars. There were allegations people were advised not to go to the police.

In 2014, Pell moved to Rome after he was handpicked by Pope Francis to serve as treasurer of the Vatican and become one of nine advisers on the Council of Cardinals to the Pope. But Pell's fortunes began to sour after the Australian government announced a Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sex Abuse in 2012.

The damning report by the commission in 2017 found 7% of Australian Catholic priests abused children over the past six decades.