VATIKAN MENGELUARKAN PERNYATAAN BERKAITAN TUDUHAN TERHADAP GEORGE KARDINAL PELL

INTERMEZZO:
VATIKAN MENGELUARKAN PERNYATAAN BERKAITAN TUDUHAN TERHADAP GEORGE KARDINAL PELL

Kantor Berita Vatikan pada hari Kamis 29 Juni 2017 mengeluarkan sebuah pernyataan mengenai tanggapan George Kardinal Pell atas tuduhan pelecehan seksual yang diajukan terhadapnya di Australia.

Pernyataan tersebut mencatat bahwa Kardinal Pell akan kembali ke Australia untuk menghadapi dakwaan terhadapnya. Kardinal, yang saat ini menjabat sebagai Prefek Sekretariat Perekonomian, diberi cuti oleh Paus Fransiskus untuk melakukan pemmbelaan diri.

Pernyataan Kantor Berita Vatikan selanjutnya mengatakan:

"Bapa Suci, yang telah menghargai kejujuran Kardinal Pell selama tiga tahun bekerja di Kuria Roma, sangat berterima kasih atas kerjasamanya, dan khususnya, atas dedikasinya yang energik terhadap reformasi di dalam bidang perekonomian dan administrasi, serta keikutsertaan aktifnya dalam Dewan Kardinal (C9)".

Berikut teks lengkap pernyataan yang dikeluarkan oleh Kantor Berita Vatikan:

Tahta Suci telah mempelajari dengan menyayangkan berita tentang tuduhan yang diajukan di Australia terhadap George Kardinal Pell untuk tindakan beberapa dekade yang lalu yang telah dikaitkan dengannya.

Setelah menyadari dakwaan tersebut, Kardinal Pell, dengan penuh hormat terhadap hukum sipil, telah memutuskan untuk kembali ke negaranya guna menghadapi dakwaan terhadapnya, menyadari pentingnya keikutsertaannya untuk memastikan bahwa proses tersebut dilakukan dengan adil, dan guna mendorong pengusahaan kebenaran.

Bapa Suci, yang telah diberitahu oleh Kardinal Pell, telah memberi Kardinal cuti agar ia bisa membela diri.

Selama ketidakhadiran Prefek, Sekretariat Perekonomian akan terus melaksanakan tugas-tugas kelembagaannya. Para Sekretaris akan tetap berada di pos mereka untuk melaksanakan urusan-urusan sehari-hari dikasteri, donec aliter provideatur.

Bapa Suci, yang telah menghargai kejujuran Kardinal Pell selama tiga tahun bekerja di Kuria Roma, sangat berterima kasih atas kerjasamanya, dan khususnya, atas dedikasinya yang energik terhadap reformasi di bidang perekonomian dan administrasi, serta kegiatannya yang aktif, serta keikutsertaan dalam Dewan Kardinal (C9).

Takhta Suci mengungkapkan rasa hormatnya terhadap sistem peradilan Australia yang harus memutuskan manfaat dari pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang diajukan.

Pada saat yang sama, sangatlah penting mengingat bahwa Kardinal Pell telah secara terbuka dan berulang kali mengutuk tindakan kekerasan yang tak bermoral dan tak dapat ditoleransi yang dilakukan terhadap anak di bawah umur; telah bekerja sama di masa lalu dengan otoritas Australia (misalnya, dalam pernyataannya di hadapan Komisi Kerajaan); telah mendukung Komisi Kepausan untuk Perlindungan Anak Di Bawah Umur; dan akhirnya, sebagai seorang uskup diosesan di Australia, telah memperkenalkan sistem dan prosedur untuk perlindungan anak di bawah umur dan memberikan bantuan kepada para korban penganiayaan.
_____

(Peter Suriadi).

NB:
A.
George Pell AC (lahir di Ballarat, Australia, 8 Juni 1941; umur 76 tahun) adalah seorang kardinal prelatus Gereja Katolik Australia.

Ia menjabat sebagai Prefek Sekretariat bagi Ekonomi pertama dan saat ini sejak 24 Februari 2014.

Ia yang ditahbiskan pada 16 Desember 1966
oleh Grégoire-Pierre Agagianian, sebelumnya menjabat sebagai Uskup Agung Sydney kedelapan (2001–2014), uskup auksiliaris (1987–1996) dan uskup agung (1996–2001) Keuskupan Agung Melbourne. Ia diangkat menjadi kardinal pada 21 Okt 2003 (Kardinal Imam S. Maria Domenica Mazzarello).

Alma mater :
Corpus Christi College, Melbourne
Pontifical Urban University
Campion Hall, Oxford
Monash University

B.
(CNN)
Cardinal George Pell, a senior adviser to Pope Francis and the Vatican treasurer, is taking leave from the Vatican to fight historical sexual assault charges in his home country of Australia.

The case is the latest black mark against the Catholic Church, which has been reeling from sexual abuse scandals across several countries that date back decades. It could also have ramifications for Pope Francis, who counts Pell among his closest aides.

Australian police have not released a detailed list of charges against Pell and didn't disclose any information about alleged victims, saying only that there were multiple charges and "multiple complainants."

Pell said he had been the victim of "relentless character assassinations," as he held a news conference early Thursday in Rome to rebut the allegations.

"I'm innocent of these charges, they are false," Pell said. "The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me."

Pell will be required to appear in the Melbourne Magistrate's court on July 18 for a filing hearing, when a full charge list is expected to be released.

Police said he was not receiving any special treatment, despite his elevated status as third-ranking official in the Holy See.

"I want to be perfectly clear -- the process and the procedures that have been followed in the charging of Cardinal Pell have been the same that have been applied in a whole range of historical sex offenses whenever we investigate them," Victoria Deputy Police Commissioner Shane Patton said at a news conference.

"Cardinal Pell has been treated the same as anyone else in this investigation."

Pell said he looked forward to clearing his name.

"All along, I have been completely consistent and clear in my total rejection of these allegations. News of these charges strengthens my resolve and court proceedings now offer me an opportunity to clear my name," Pell said. "I'm looking forward finally to having my day in court."

SNAP, the US-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, welcomed the development. "We are always grateful and encouraged when law enforcement works hard to gather evidence to build a case against a powerful and influential man," the group said in a statement.

C.
(GUARDIAN)

Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic and the third-ranking official in the Vatican, has been charged with multiple sexual offences by police.

The charges were served on Pell’s legal representatives in Melbourne on Thursday and they have been lodged also at Melbourne magistrates court. He has been ordered to appear at the court on 18 July.

“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 offences”.

Publisher withdraws book on George Pell from Victorian shops

In a statement released by the Catholic archdiocese of Sydney 90 minutes after the charges were announced, Pell announced he would “return to Australia, as soon as possible, to clear his name”.

Pell is the highest-ranking Vatican official to be charged in the Catholic church’s long-running sexual abuse scandal.

Pell’s statement, issued at 4.30am Rome time, said: “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.”

It is so far unclear just what allegations Pell has been charged with. Pell was due to make a further statement in Rome later on Thursday.

Detectives from Victoria police’s Sano taskforce, established to investigate allegations that emerged during a parliamentary inquiry in Victoria and the later royal commission, interviewed Pell in Rome in October about allegations against him.

Last year, citing ill health, Pell declined to return to Australia to give evidence to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in person last year and instead gave evidence by videolink from Rome.

The royal commission, ordered by then-Australian prime minister Julia Gillard in 2012 and formed in 2013, is due to deliver its final report by 15 December.

In February the Australian Senate called on the cardinal to return home “to assist the Victorian police and office of public prosecutions with their investigation into these matters”.

Pell dismissed the parliamentary resolution as “an interference on the part of the Senate in the due process of the Victoria police investigation”.

The cardinal is a former archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne. Since 2014 he has been prefect of the secretariat for the economy – the Vatican’s treasurer. He was ordained in Rome in 1966.

The news, which broke in the middle of the night in Rome, represents the biggest crisis of Pope Francis’s papacy. The Vatican declined to comment immediately on the news, but inside the Vatican questions were swirling about how Francis would respond to the stunning charges and whether his longstanding support of Pell, despite his ideological differences with the staunchly conservative Australian, would tarnish his own reputation.

The pope has historically been loath to respond to legally unsubstantiated allegations of sexual abuse against senior clerics. The fact that legal charges have been filed means his support for Pell will now be heavily scrutinised and the case will be seen as a test of whether the pope, who has claimed that the church ought to have zero tolerance for sexual offenders, will be willing to cast out one of the most powerful officials in the Vatican

When Pope Francis was asked about allegations against Pell last year, he told reporters: “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, announces charges against George Pell in Melbourne

Patton told the media conference: “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.

George Pell charged with sexual offences: a timeline of the cardinal's life

“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.”

Patton said as the matter was now due before the court, police would be making no further comment.

Victoria’s director of public prosecutions, John Champion, released a statement saying he would be involved in “conducting these criminal proceedings”.

“I will be required to do so in a manner that is fair and just to all parties, including the alleged offender,” he said.