translated from Spanish: Vatican ‘respects’ confirmed conviction against Australian paedophile cardinal

“The Holy See reiterates respect for the Australian judicial system, as it did on 26 February when the first instance’s verdict was announced,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement about the former Vatican treasurer and former number three, George Pell.
However, “as proceedings continue to take place, the Holy See recalls that the cardinal has always maintained his innocence throughout the judicial process and that he has the right to appeal the High Court,” Bruni added.

“At the moment, together with the Church of Australia, the Holy See reaffirms its solidarity with victims of sexual abuse and its commitment to persecuting, through the competent ecclesiastical authorities, those clergy members who committed abuses”, said the pope’s spokesman, who did not refer to the Vatican’s open investigation into this case earlier this year.
Today the Supreme Court of Victoria dismissed the appeal filed by the 78-year-old defense of the cardinal.
Pell, the top head of the Catholic Church convicted of pederastia, was imprisoned in February after being found guilty of five counts of child abuse, including one of oral penetration, committed against two children of the Melbourne Cathedral choir between 1996 and 1997.
The president of the Court of Victoria confirmed that the cardinal will continue to serve his six-year prison sentence, which will allow him to be released on parole in 2022.
Outside the courthouse, a group of survivors and a father of victims of sexual abuse celebrated the sentence.

Original source in Spanish

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