Former head of the Vatican, George Pell, wants to continue his legal defense against his sexual abuse conviction. His lawyers filed a petition for appeals before the Australian Supreme Court on Tuesday. Whether the High Court actually deals with the case is still unclear.
A court sentenced Pell to six years' imprisonment in the spring for sexual abuse of minors - the highest ranking clergy in the history of the Catholic Church. The 78-year-old can be released from prison at the earliest in 2022.
Pell rejects the allegations. With an appeal to the highest court in the state of Victoria, he failed in August. However, the decision of the three judges was not unanimous, but with a majority of 2: 1. Following this, Pell's lawyers had 28 days to appeal to Australia's highest court, the High Court in Canberra. That's what happened.
Pell had held senior offices in the Catholic Church for decades. In 2014, Pope Francis appointed him Chief Financial Officer of the Vatican, Pell was thus ranked third in the hierarchy of the Papal States. The allegations against him date back to 1996 and 1997, when he had just become Archbishop of Australia's second largest city, Melbourne. The two choir boys were then 13 years old. One of the boys forced Pell to oral sex according to the court's judgment.
One of the alleged victims of abuse died in 2014 of an overdose of heroin and had never commented on the incidents. The 35-year-old survivor was the deciding witness in the process.
