MELBOURNE - Cardinal George Pell, senior Australian Catholic figure who is also financial adviser to Vatican leader Pope Francis has been charged with a number of historical sexual harassment. The Pope of Francis was ordered to appear at the Melbourune Magistrates Court on July 18.
Victoria State Vice Commissioner Shane Patton said on Thursday that police had summoned Pell to appear in an Australian court. According to him, he will face many accusations of "historical sexual abuse", which means a violation that generally occurred some time ago.
Patton will not ask questions of Pell on the grounds of the need to maintain the integrity of the judicial process.
Pell himself has repeatedly rejected all allegations of abuse addressed to him.
"It is important to note that none of the allegations filed against Cardinal Pell (untested), has clearly been tested in any court," Patton told reporters in Melbourne.
"Cardinal Pell, like the other defendants, is entitled to a legal process," he said, as reported by Al Jazeera, Thursday (6/29/2017).
The charges against Pell became a serious and serious blow for Pope Francis who had suffered some credibility decline in the "zero tolerance" policy for the sex abuse case he promised.
Over the years, Pell has faced allegations of sexual harassment when he became Archbishop of Melbourne and then Archbishop of Sydney.
His acts as archbishop have come under scrutiny in recent years by official government investigation teams on how the Catholic Church and other institutions have responded to child sexual abuse.
Last year, Pell confessed to the commission that the Catholic Church had made a terrible mistake in allowing thousands of children to be raped and persecuted by church leaders.
He also admitted that he had been mistaken for believing church priests more than abused victims. She vowed to help end a suicide case that struck the victim in her hometown of Ballarat, Australia.
