A senior Vatican official was charged with multiple sexual offenses by Australian police.
“Cardinal Pell is facing multiple charges … and there are multiple complainants,” Victoria police’s deputy commissioner Shane Patton said. The charges were “historical sexual assault offenses”
The third ranking senior official within the Vatican announced that he would “return to Australia, as soon as possible, to clear his name.”
Cardinal George Pell is the highest-ranking Vatican official to be charged during the duration of the Vatican’s sexual abuse scandal.
Pell gave a statement, at 4:30 am Rome time;
“Although it is still in the early hours of the morning in Rome, Cardinal George Pell has been informed of the decision and action of Victoria police. He has again strenuously denied all allegations.
“Cardinal Pell will return to Australia, as soon as possible, to clear his name following advice and approval by his doctors who will also advise on his travel arrangements.
“He said he is looking forward to his day in court and will defend the charges vigorously.”
The Cardinal previously was called home by police “to assist the Victorian police and office of public prosecutions with their investigation into these matters.” However, Pell citing ill health, declined to return to Australia to give evidence to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in person and instead gave evidence by video link from Rome.
The police have yet to reveal exactly what charges Pell will face, but the detectives are investigating the allegations that emerged during a parliamentary inquiry in Victoria and the later royal commission, interviewed Pell in Rome in October about the allegations against him.
Cardinal Pell was ordained in Rome in 1966. Before 2014, Pell was a former archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne, and after he became the Vatican’s treasurer.
Pope Francis also spoke on the matter, stating; “It’s true, there is a doubt. We have to wait for justice and not first make a mediatic judgment – a judgment of gossip – because that won’t help. Once justice has spoken, I will speak.”
Shane Patton, Victoria state police deputy commissioner, told the media;
“During the course of the investigation in relation to Cardinal Pell, there has been a lot of reporting in the media and speculation about the process that has been involved in the investigation and also the charging.
“For clarity, I want to be perfectly clear, the process and procedures that are being followed in the charging of Cardinal Pell have been the same that have been applied in a whole range of historical sex offences whenever we investigate them.
“The fact that he has been charged on summons, we have used advice from the office of public prosecutions and also we have engaged with his legal representatives is common and standard practice. There has been no change in any procedures whatsoever. Advice was received and sought from the office of public prosecutions, however ultimately, the choice to charge Cardinal Pell was one that was made by Victoria police.
“Cardinal Pell, like any other defendant, has a right to due process and so therefore, it is important that the process is allowed to run its natural course.”
The latest occurrence of allegations against Vatican Officials comes directly after the last abuse survivor of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors left the commission, citing resistance coming from Vatican offices against implementing recommendations.
It is not clear exactly where the opposition is coming from within the Catholic Church, claimed the last abuse survivor, Marie Collins, on the Pontifical Commission. However, she resigned as a direct result of the Catholic Church’s inability to implement recommendations that could curb sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
In Australia, the cases of abuse are quite prevalent, and according to the chief executive of the church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, Francis Sullivan; “You have to seriously wonder whether this isn’t the Pope backsliding on what has been a strong and determined crackdown on offending priests and the circumstances that allowed abuse to take place,”
According to Sullivan, it is a very dangerous time; he cites both the resignation of Marie Collins and the resistance from the Church to curb pedophilia. “Together these two developments paint a picture of the Vatican establishment, its bureaucrats, and courtiers, doing all they can to either undermine the Pope or driving an agenda that is about maintaining the status quo and protecting the institution.”
The allegations against Pell, if proven true, make known just how dirty the Vatican is, and just how deep pedophilia goes up the food chain of Vatican Bureaucracy. Several ‘unofficial’ claims have also risen in about Vatican officials partaking in satanic rituals.
Satanism in The Vatican
In November 1996, during the papacy of John Paul II (d. 2005) and under the seeming appearance of his approval, allegations were made by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo (b. 1930) that members of the Catholic hierarchy were secretly involved in formal Satanic worship, and these stunning claims were confirmed by eminent Vatican insider, Dr. Malachi Martin (1921-1999). Later, a new round of allegations about Satanic activities in the Vatican surfaced in Rome that the media described as ‘explosive’, and the newspaper headline at that time said: ‘Satanism Is Practiced In Vatican!’. The article said this, in part:
In recent weeks, a firestorm has been raging in Italy. The controversy revolves around the statements of Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who made formal allegations that satanic activity is taking place inside the Vatican. When questioned by the Italian press about the allegations, he said that he stood by them.
In doing so, Archbishop Milingo became another Vatican insider to allege that Satanic rituals were regularly performed within the hallowed walls of Vatican City. After the Archbishop gave an electrifying speech at the third ‘Our Lady of Fatima 2000 International Conference on World Peace on November 18–23, 1996’, the opinion arose in amongst the Vatican hierarchs that Archbishop Milingo was a ‘far-right’ critic of the institutional Church.
Archbishop charges Vatican hierarchy with Satanism
Archbishop Milingo openly charged high-ranking members of the Holy See as ‘followers of Satan’, or otherwise enablers of evil. This is part of what the Archbishop said:
The devil in the Catholic Church is so protected now that he is like an animal protected by the government; put on a game preserve that outlaws anyone, especially hunters, from trying to capture or kill it. The devil within the Church today is actually protected by certain Church authorities from the official devil-hunter in the Church – the exorcist.