Cardinal Pell finally charged with sex abuse

"Today Victoria Police have charged Cardinal George Pell with historical sexual assault offences." @VictoriaPolice pic.twitter.com/5MyYVlHPa8

— ABC News (@abcnews) June 29, 2017

In the news: Australian Cardinal and Aide to Pope Is Charged With Sexual Assault

Australia’s senior Roman Catholic prelate, and one of Pope Francis’ top advisers, has been charged with sexual assault, the police in the Australian state of Victoria said on Thursday.

The prelate, Cardinal George Pell, became the highest-ranking Vatican official in recent years to face criminal charges involving accusations of sexual offenses. The case will test the credibility of Francis’ initiatives to foster greater accountability after abuse scandals that have shaken the church around the world.

“Cardinal Pell has been charged on summons, and he is required to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court” on July 18, Shane Patton, the deputy police commissioner, said at a news conference.

The charges were served on the cardinal’s legal representatives in Melbourne. Commissioner Patton said there were multiple complainants but refused to provide further details about them, including their ages ....

Man, this has been a long time coming! There was a furor when Pope Francis, knowing of the terrible reputation Pell had on sex abuse, hired him to be on of his gang of eight. The Pope's own sex abuse commission in 2015 advised that Francis fire Pell (read what Marie Collins had to say), but the pope ignored them. Now that Pell is officially under investigation and charged with returning to Australia, will the Pope finally send him packing, or instead will he refuse to fire him and instead keep him safe from prosecution in the Vatican as he did with Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski?

More from Andrew Sullican: The Pope’s Pedophile?

And more on Pell from my past posts ...

February 26, 2014: Cardinal Pell

March 18, 2014: Cardinal Pell and the Ellis sex abuse case

March 26, 2014: Pell, sex abuse, church money

April 3, 2014: Eureka Street and David Marr on George Pell

May 21, 2015: The continuing badness of Cardinal Pell

May 31, 2015: 60 Minutes: Cardinal Pell and sex abuse

March 7, 2016: Editorial on Cardinal Pell

Here's a really interesting video interview from a few years ago with journalist David Marr on Cardinal Pell and sex abuse. It is really worth a watch .....