Cardinal George Pell returns to Australia to face historical sex offences
The former Sydney and Melbourne archbishop has always maintained his innocence and strenuously denies the allegations
The most senior Vatican cleric to ever be charged in the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal returned to Australia on Monday to stand trial in his home state on charges alleging he sexually assaulted multiple people years ago.
Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ top financial adviser, avoided waiting media when he arrived at Sydney Airport on a flight from Singapore. He had declined to comment in Singapore over the weekend as he made his way home from Rome.
The 76-year-old cleric is due to appear in a court in the Victoria state capital Melbourne on July 26 on what Victoria Police described as multiple counts of “historical sexual assault offences” - meaning crimes that generally occurred years ago. There is no statute of limitations on such crimes in Australia. Police said there were multiple complainants, but have released no other details.
Watch: Pell to fight abuse charges
On Monday, the Sydney archdiocese said the cardinal had made multiple stops on his journey to Australia to avoid long-haul flights, based on the advice of his doctors. Last year, Pell said he was too ill to make the long flight back to his home country to testify before a government inquiry into how the Catholic Church and other institutions have responded to child sex abuse allegations.