Finally. It’s been revealed that Cardinal George Pell is officially a convicted child rapist.
Cardinal George Pell, one of the most senior figures in the Catholic Church, sexually assaulted two 13-year-old choirboys at a cathedral in the Australian city of Melbourne 22 years ago, according to a verdict by an Australian jury in December that has been suppressed by a gag order until now.
Details of the assault are at the link, I’d rather not repeat them.
Celebrate the conviction by playing this song LOUD. It’s a lovely catchy piece of music, and now it’s especially appropriate.
Ooooohhh that look on Tim’s face.
:):):)
Two thumbs up. About time.
The pope has just realized that sexual predators are in the priesthood?! He’s not very bright, is he?
@Marcus:
Yep. He just held a conference to deal with the epidemic of institutional actions to protect sex criminals among the priesthood. At the start of the conference he said that he wouldn’t be meeting with any victims’ advocacy groups and with only a few individual victims. He said that he wouldn’t meet with representatives of victims’ advocacy groups because they were habitual liars, “brothers of Satan,” and had been thoroughly corrupted by “harboring hatred” (or similar, I may not have the quote exactly right, and it was in italian anyway) against the church for so many years.
Yeah. Seriously. This was in the process of bringing together their big photo-op to demonstrate how committed they were to just responses to the crisis.
Found the quote I was thinking of:
He also said,
@5
Wow, way to read the room, popey.
@5. The only appropriate response.
And OBTW, he’s a climate change denier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgsyYXfaIWs
I mean, with an endorsement from Rupert Murdoch, he must be a good guy, right? https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot/status/1100303315886395392
Good. Now just need to throw out his ghastly acolytes out of Australian government. May 2019 one hopes.
I wish I could be as optimistic as you Lofty.
Long overdue. I hope this offers some measure of justice for Pell’s direct victims and all the people who were harmed by his refusal to take the crimes of other priests seriously.
Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden @ 4 and 5;
The Pope’s crocodile tears really are nauseating to behold aren’t they? I have rarely seen a more obvious PR spin job.
I am with gijoel @ 7 – Tim Minchen has helpfully already provided us with the ideal response.
Double good.
Looks like it’s time for God to “call Cardinal Pell home.”
Yep. He just held a conference to deal with the epidemic of institutional actions to protect sex criminals among the priesthood.
Yeah. Because a conference and some cussing out bad guys is totally likely to be an effective response.
Given that the catholic church has been scheming and twisting to avoid paying any restitution to victims, for decades, popey can hardly claim to have only just learned this.
They’re such cowards. Its like they don’t believe their god really forgives them.
So far I haven’t seen anybody praising the Pope and the church for the results of their meeting. The best they could come up with was “it happened, yay”. Seems like people are not buying their satanic forces shit.
One down, untold thousands to go…
I’m having a hard time understanding why anyone remains Catholic at this point. Even if one believes that Jesus is God, surely there are other Christian sects that don’t harbor pedophiles.
@ Thirdmill301:
In many cases its less about Christianity than it is to national identity (as in Ireland) or family tradition and unity as with many people from other countries. The familiar sacrament cycle of baptism,confession,communion,confirmation. These are major community events that allow for networking etc.
Lastly, for people who have left their home country, it can be a way to find community among other immigrants by attending mass.
All this to say-I wish the church would die. But it doesnt look like it will.
What I would love to see is proactive prosecution of individuals who have assisted with cover ups, including the pope.
Well, the Vatican is “shocked” and thinks that it’s “painful news”. Not because they’re sorry, but because they believe Pell is innocent. He wouldn’t lie, would he?
Don’t forget Pell was very close to the pope and he designed most of the church’s mechanisms for handling complaints. Those mechanisms involved denial, counter attack and cost minimization.
I’d also recommend David Marr’s article in the Guardian. It really demonstrates what a colossal hypocrite Pell is.
I do not like thee, Cardinal Pell