Card. Pell sentenced to 6
years for abuse
 |
| Cardinal George Pell |
Australian Cardinal George Pell is sentenced to six years in
prison for sexual abuse. He will be eligible for parole after three years and 8
months.
Cardinal Pell was found guilty by a jury in December of
sexually abusing two underage choristers when he was Archbishop of Melbourne in
the '90s. Sentencing him on Wednesday, Judge Peter Kidd noted that the abuses
committed by Cardinal George Pell had "a significant and long-lasting
impact" on one of the victims.
Pell has always professed his innocence and his lawyers have
appealed the conviction which will be heard on 5 and 6 June. Judge Kidd
permitted the sentencing, which lasted over half an hour, to be broadcast live,
in what officials have called a commitment to "open justice".
The Cardinal, who is 77, had risked up to fifty years in
prison, ten for each of the five counts, according to Australian law. After
handing down the sentence, the cardinal returned to the maximum security prison
in Melbourne where he is being held in solitary confinement as is usual for
those found guilty of abuse.
Following the conviction of Cardinal Pell, the Holy See
announced the opening of its own canonical investigation by the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith.
www.vaticannews.va/en
www.vaticannews.va/en
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