Cardinal Pell’s Aquittal, One Year Later

National Catholic Register, 14 April 2021

Since the unanimous judgment, four major developments occurred.

One of the striking sights of Holy Week 2021 was Cardinal George Pell, a head taller than most of his fellow prelates, clearly visible at the papal liturgies.

It was during Holy Week 2020 that his long criminal ordeal came to an end, freed from more than 400 days in solitary confinement, exonerated of sexual abuse by a unanimous judgment of Australia’s High Court.

In the intervening year, there have been four major developments in Cardinal Pell’s story. 

The most significant is the publication of the first volume of Prison Journal, the daily diary that Cardinal Pell wrote while incarcerated. With a spirit remarkably free of bitterness or self-pity, the cardinal recalls how his world shrank to his cell, “seven to eight metres long, more than two meters wide on the side of the opaque window.”

Confined day and night, save for a short period of daily exercise, Cardinal Pell’s diary frequently records literally the most mundane of topics — the weather. Yet, how important that became in his severely diminished prison life; inclement weather might make it impossible for him to leave his cell at all. 

Solitary confinement was required, in the judgment of the prison authorities, to protect Cardinal Pell from assault by the other prisoners. The cardinal is generous in his assessment of his guards, but it remains a terribly harsh punishment for a man no one considered a threat to others or to good order.

Cardinal Pell’s journal illustrates that a soul open to God cannot be entirely caged. His fidelity to prayer — principally the breviary, given that he was denied the opportunity to offer the Holy Mass — and communion with a vast array of correspondents meant that while in solitary confinement, he was not alone. The forthcoming volumes of the journal will no doubt establish it as profound spiritual reading for all those afflicted unjustly.

The first volume, which concludes before the Court of Appeal judgment, is brimming with confidence that Cardinal Pell will prevail on appeal. He even discusses with his lawyers the arrangements for issuing a statement upon his vindication. The appeal went against him, meaning seven more months in prison.

Australian Justice

One of the great peculiarities of Cardinal Pell’s prosecution was a total publication ban, which covered anything about the case whatsoever. Since the cardinal’s release, the Australian prosecutors have settled with media companies that were charged with unlawful reporting on the trial.

Cardinal Pell’s secret trial was supposed to be to his benefit. With two trials on two sets of accusations — one set in the Melbourne Cathedral in 1996, and the other regarding his home Diocese of Ballarat in the 1970s — it was thought that publicity from the first trial would make it impossible to empanel an impartial jury for the second. It was not an unreasonable supposition, but it worked to Cardinal Pell’s disadvantage. 

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