Former Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia, Cardinal George Pell, aged 77 years, sentenced by an Australian court of law to 6 years in prison for child sexual abuse
Cardinal George Pell sentenced to 6 years in prison for child sex abuse, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cardinal-george-pell-sentenced-6-years-prison-child-sex-abuse-n982331, 13th March 2019
The article has a 2 minute video where the Australian judge says that he convicts and sentences Cardinal Pell (of the Catholic church) to prison on the various charges related to child sexual abuse against him.
The article mentions that he was convicted in December (2018) "for the molestation of two choir boys while he was the archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s".
Cardinal Pell says he is innocent and he and his lawyers are going to appeal the conviction.
This article, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pope-francis-financial-adviser-cardinal-george-pell-convicted-child-sex-n975896, dated 26th Feb. 2019 gives some details about the conviction.
A 12 member jury delivered unanimous verdicts of guilty.
The article reports that a victim who had testified at the trial said that he has undergone "shame, loneliness, depression and struggle." The victim said that it took him years to understand the bad impact of this sex abuse on his life.
The second victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 and was 31 years old then. The father of this deceased victim has been fighting for justice for his son.
Ravi: Justice seems to have been served but Cardinal Pell has not acknowledged his guilt and one does not know how the appeal will go. My considered view is that if Pell really did commit those acts of child sexual abuse then perhaps he is now in psychological denial of that reality. I think psychological denial of very unpleasant truth is a mental defense that is naturally prompted by the mind. It takes great moral courage and great ability of self-appraisal to overcome such psychological denial of very unpleasant truths and acknowledge the truth in such cases. And I think it is especially the case when the person concerned is a high-ranking official of a religious organization, in this case the Catholic Church in Australia. So I think there is a good probability that Cardinal Pell's mind has got into psychological denial of these sexual abuse acts that he committed.
But then Karma is something that cannot be fooled by psychological denial defense of the mind! My belief is that if Cardinal Pell did commit those child sexual abuse acts, he will face the negative karmic consequences of that, in this life or a future life, unless he genuinely repents from the very bottom of his heart and prays to the Lord and his victims for forgiveness, in which case the Lord may cancel his negative karmic consequences.
It is wonderful that Australian justice has held Cardinal Pell accountable for his actions. Even if the appeal overturns the verdicts on some grounds, the fact that a trial court tried Cardinal Pell for these charges and convicted him is a great achievement. I mean, the guy was Archbishop of Melbourne, a famous city worldwide. So I think, even if the appeal overturns the guilty verdict, the trial court conviction is a great victory for Sathya (truth) and Dharma (ethical living) in Australia, and which victory will have a positive impact worldwide in the fight against child sexual abuse.
The article has a 2 minute video where the Australian judge says that he convicts and sentences Cardinal Pell (of the Catholic church) to prison on the various charges related to child sexual abuse against him.
The article mentions that he was convicted in December (2018) "for the molestation of two choir boys while he was the archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s".
Cardinal Pell says he is innocent and he and his lawyers are going to appeal the conviction.
This article, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pope-francis-financial-adviser-cardinal-george-pell-convicted-child-sex-n975896, dated 26th Feb. 2019 gives some details about the conviction.
A 12 member jury delivered unanimous verdicts of guilty.
The article reports that a victim who had testified at the trial said that he has undergone "shame, loneliness, depression and struggle." The victim said that it took him years to understand the bad impact of this sex abuse on his life.
The second victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 and was 31 years old then. The father of this deceased victim has been fighting for justice for his son.
Ravi: Justice seems to have been served but Cardinal Pell has not acknowledged his guilt and one does not know how the appeal will go. My considered view is that if Pell really did commit those acts of child sexual abuse then perhaps he is now in psychological denial of that reality. I think psychological denial of very unpleasant truth is a mental defense that is naturally prompted by the mind. It takes great moral courage and great ability of self-appraisal to overcome such psychological denial of very unpleasant truths and acknowledge the truth in such cases. And I think it is especially the case when the person concerned is a high-ranking official of a religious organization, in this case the Catholic Church in Australia. So I think there is a good probability that Cardinal Pell's mind has got into psychological denial of these sexual abuse acts that he committed.
But then Karma is something that cannot be fooled by psychological denial defense of the mind! My belief is that if Cardinal Pell did commit those child sexual abuse acts, he will face the negative karmic consequences of that, in this life or a future life, unless he genuinely repents from the very bottom of his heart and prays to the Lord and his victims for forgiveness, in which case the Lord may cancel his negative karmic consequences.
It is wonderful that Australian justice has held Cardinal Pell accountable for his actions. Even if the appeal overturns the verdicts on some grounds, the fact that a trial court tried Cardinal Pell for these charges and convicted him is a great achievement. I mean, the guy was Archbishop of Melbourne, a famous city worldwide. So I think, even if the appeal overturns the guilty verdict, the trial court conviction is a great victory for Sathya (truth) and Dharma (ethical living) in Australia, and which victory will have a positive impact worldwide in the fight against child sexual abuse.
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