Catholic Cardinal George Pell of Australia ordered to face trial on sex abuse charges

[trotsky]

(headline cont'd)... he pleads not guilty

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/05/01/catholic-cardinal-george-pell-australia-ordered-face-trial-sex-abuse-charges-he-pleads-not-guilty/567801002/

Australian Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Vatican official to be charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis, on Tuesday officially denied charges of sexual abuse spanning decades after his lawyers failed to sway a court to dismiss them.

Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic will appear for the first time on Wednesday in the Victoria state County Court, where he has been ordered to stand trial at a date yet to be set.

Lawyers for Pell, Pope Francis’ finance minister, have been fighting the allegations since before he was charged last June with allegations of sexual abuse against multiples people in Victoria from the time he was a priest in his hometown of Ballarat in the 1970s until the 1990s, when he was archbishop of Melbourne.

...

The case places both the cardinal and the pope in potentially perilous territory. For Pell, the charges are a threat to his freedom, his reputation and his career. For Francis, they are a threat to his credibility, given that he famously promised a “zero tolerance” policy for sex abuse in the church.

[MineralMan]

1. Sort of embarrassing, huh?

For the, you know, Vatican. I guess moving him to a position there didn't work. What now, Papa?

[Major Nikon]

3. Too late to do the usual move to the extradition free Vatican

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vatican-whisks-another-alleged-pervert-priest-to-safetythis-one-from-its-dc-embassy

[Major Nikon]

2. Still has a job at the Vatican

How does a man sworn to poverty afford a team of lawyers?

The Lord sure does work in mysterious ways.