An Australian court overturns a cardinal’s conviction for sexual abuse

THE JURY that in 2018 found George Pell guilty of sexually assaulting two choirboys deliberated about its verdict for five days. But it did not think about the evidence carefully enough, Australia’s High Court ruled on April 7th. It overturned the conviction and ordered Mr Pell, a cardinal who used to be the Vatican’s top financial manager, released. If the jury had been “acting rationally on the whole of the evidence”, the seven judges ruled unanimously, it “ought to have entertained a reasonable doubt” about his guilt.

The charges date to 1996, when Mr Pell was Archbishop of Melbourne. He was accused of molesting the boys in the cathedral’s sacristy, or dressing-room, after a Sunday mass. The guilty verdict was initially subject to a gagging order, in order not to prejudice possible future proceedings. Only months later were the media allowed to report on it. A little over a year ago the prelate began his six-year jail sentence, which was upheld by an appeals court in the state of Victoria last year.

The High Court was troubled, however, by the other courts’ reliance on the testimony of a single witness. One of the two choristers died in 2014, so the conviction was “wholly dependent upon the acceptance of truthfulness and reliability” of the surviving one, the High Court’s judges observed. Even though the witness was...

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