George Pell has always towered over his contemporaries and for six decades until he was charged with child sex offences enjoyed standing centre stage.
From brilliant scholar and schoolboy athlete to being appointed the Catholic Church's third-most senior cleric, Pell's commanding presence has made his fall seem all the more great.
After it was revealed on Tuesday he had raped one choirboy and molested another in the 1990s the disgraced cardinal limped from a Melbourne court as a passerby screamed for him to 'rot in hell'.
The next step down for the 77-year-old will be when he enters a prison cell. No one could have predicted when Pell first came to public attention just how high he would eventually rise or fall.
A photograph in the 1957 yearbook of St Patrick's College in Ballarat shows a teenage Pell dressed up as a policeman hamming it up for the audience as he embraces two other students dressed as girls.
The picture was taken during the prestigious Victorian day and boarding school's annual prize and concert night held in the civic hall.
Cardinal George Pell leaves the County Court in Melbourne on Thursday after it was finally made public he had been found guilty in December of sexually assaulting two teenage boys. The next step down for the Catholic Church's third most senior cleric will be a prison cell
George Pell has always towered over his contemporaries and for more than six decades until he was charged with child sex offences enjoyed standing centre stage. He is pictured here (centre) in a 1957 St Patrick's College, Ballarat, yearbook hamming it up in a school play
From brilliant scholar and star athlete as a schoolboy to being appointed the Catholic Church's third-most senior cleric, Pell's commanding presence has made his fall all the more great. He is pictured here at St Patrick's College, Ballarat, with his 1957 Leaving Certificate classmates
It was revealed on Tuesday that George Pell had been found guilty in December of five sexual offences against two 13-year-old Melbourne schoolboys in 1996. Pell was found guilty of one count of sexually penetrating a child and four counts of committing an act of indecency
'The Policemen's Chorus, headed by George Pell, created a diversion that appealed to all,' the yearbook says.
'George's superb acting and solo work singled him out as one of the best of the cast.'
Pell, a noted Australian rules footballer as a youth, also played Pooh-Bah in The Mikado while a student.
It will take some time before all the accolades that have been bestowed upon him over the decades to be withdrawn, if his convictions for child sex offences stand.
Pell was inducted as one of his old school's 'Legends' in 2005 to join the likes of former Victorian premier Steve Bracks and marathon runner Steve Moneghetti.
The school's removed that honour on Tuesday afternoon and said all reference to the disgraced cardinal would be stripped from the institution.
That move came hours after it was revealed Pell had been found guilty in December of five sexual offences against two 13-year-old Melbourne schoolboys in 1996 shortly after he had been made an archbishop.
Pell was found guilty by a County Court jury of one count of sexually penetrating a child and four counts of committing an act of indecency.
A young George Pell (circled) in St Patrick's College's First XVIII football team in 1957. The only better team the school had produced was the 1952 XVIII which contained two future Brownlow medalists, Brian Gleeson and John James. Pell was 190cm (6'3") by the time he was aged 15
Pell called the claims against him a 'product of fantasy' and 'absolute rubbish' when interviewed by police in Rome three years ago. Physically ailing, the cardinal has been on bail
Those verdicts were made public only after the abandonment of a second trial over allegations Pell indecently assaulted boys in Ballarat, 110km north-west of Melbourne, in the 1970s.
Pell has always maintained his innocence and has lodged an appeal against his convictions.
Since he was a schoolboy Pell seemed destined for some form of greatness but not necessarily in the clergy. His father had been state heavyweight boxing champion of Western Australia and captain of Perth Life Saving Club.
St Patrick's was an ideal place for young George's education - a sports-obsessed school which has also produced politicians, scientists, business leaders - and scores of Catholic priests.
George Pell (circled) with fellow members of the St Patrick's College cadet unit in 1957
Pell, who attended the school from 1949 to 1959, excelled as a sprinter, at long jump and shot put, as well as rowing, tennis, cricket and swimming. He was also a platoon commander in cadets.
In school photographs he stands out as bigger than other boys - he was 190cm tall or 6'3" by age 15 - and dominated the rucks in Australian football.
Pell had signed a contract with Richmond while still finishing Year 12 in 1959 but surprised his schoolmates when he chose instead to enter the church.
'To put it crudely, I feared and suspected and eventually became convinced that God wanted me to do His work, and I was never able to successfully escape that conviction,' he once said.
After studying in Rome and Oxford he rose through the church's ranks to become Archbishop of Melbourne then Sydney, was made a cardinal and eventually put in charge of the Vatican's finances.
While Archbishop of the Melbourne he had established what was known as the 'Melbourne Response' to investigate and deal with complaints of sexual abuse, the first such protocol in the Catholic world.
On Wednesday the man who rose to become Australia's highest-ranked Catholic and a trusted adviser to Pope Francis will be taken into custody. He is pictured in Sydney in 2003
Pell (circled) was a member of St Patrick's College's champion athletic team of 1957. Pell, who attended the school from 1949 to 1959, excelled as a sprinter, at long jump and shot put, as well as rowing, tennis, cricket and swimming. He was also a platoon commander in cadets
Cardinal George Pell is seen leaving the County Court in Melbourne on Tuesday, February 26
But for the past two decades, according to the Melbourne jury's verdicts, Pell has kept a terrible secret of sexually molesting young boys.
In 1996 while still dressed in his robes after celebrating Sunday mass he had exposed himself and masturbated in front of one teen, then raped that boy's friend.
Pell called those claims a 'product of fantasy' and 'absolute rubbish' when interviewed by police in Rome three years ago.
Defence barrister Robert Richter QC told the jury his client had been portrayed as the 'Darth Vader of the Catholic Church.'
Mr Richter argued the allegations against Pell could not be true - he had always been accompanied after mass and that his cumbersome robes would have prevented him revealing his genitals.
'Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priest's sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass,' he told the jury.
Pell stood down from his position as Vatican treasurer to fight the charges and his membership of the Group of Nine Cardinals was suspended by the Pope in December.
Pell will be sentenced in March. He is expected to lose his freedom on Wednesday, with a judge saying his bail will be revoked following a pre-sentence hearing.
FROM ALLEGATIONS TO CONVICTION: A TIMELINE OF THE CARDINAL GEORGE PELL CASE
1996
- Pell appointed Archbishop of Melbourne by Pope John Paul II
- Pell sexually abuses two 13-year-old choirboys after a Sunday solemn mass at St Patrick's Cathedral
- A second indecent act is committed by Pell against one of the choirboys in a corridor at the Cathedral.
2016
- The Herald Sun reports Pell is being investigated by Victoria Police's Sano taskforce for 'multiple offences' committed while he was a priest in Ballarat and Archbishop of Melbourne
- Pell says the allegations are 'without foundation and utterly false' and calls for an inquiry into how the police investigation became public
- Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton asks the anti-corruption watchdog to investigate the leak, but denies it came from police
Cardinal George Pell, 77, is known as the Vatican's treasurer and had been granted a leave of absence while facing trial over child sex offences in Australia. He has surrendered his passport
- Pell gives evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's inquiry into abuse in Ballarat
- Under Vatican rules, Pell gives Pope Francis his resignation on his 75th birthday, as is customary. It is not accepted
- Victoria Police investigators hand over to the state's Office of Public Prosecutions a brief of evidence on allegations of sexual abuse by Pell
- Officers travel to Rome to interview Pell over the abuse claims. He voluntarily participates in the interview.
2017
- Police present their final brief of evidence to the Office of Public Prosecutions to consider charges
- Prosecutors give police the green light to charge Pell.
JUNE 2017
- Pell is charged with multiple counts of historic child sex offences
- He denies the charges and vows to clear his name
- Lawyers for Pell appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court
- Pell takes leave from his Vatican finance chief role to fight the charges.
JULY 2017
- Pell returns to Australia
- He hires top barrister Robert Richter QC
- Supporters set up a fund to help Pell fight the charges.
MARCH 2018
- Prosecutors drop one of the charges against Pell
- A month-long committal hearing begins to determine if Pell will face trial
- Prosecutors withdraw more charges
- Mr Richter claims police conducted a 'get Pell operation' and accuses magistrate Belinda Wallington of bias. She refuses to disqualify herself from the case.
MAY 2018
- Magistrate Belinda Wallington orders Pell stand trial on some charges, but throws out others
- Pell formally pleads 'not guilty'
- Two trials are ordered, separating the 1970s and 1990s allegations
- A Victorian County Court employee is sacked for looking up information on the Pell case.
AUGUST 2018
- The 1990s 'cathedral trial' begins in the Victorian County Court in Melbourne
- Pell pleads not guilty again to one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four of indecent acts with a child, over incidents involving two 13-year-old choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996.
SEPTEMBER 2018
- The jury is discharged, unable to reach a verdict following a week of deliberation. Some jurors weep.
NOVEMBER 2018
- A retrial begins. The jury aren't told of the previous hung jury.
DECEMBER 2018
- Pell is found guilty on all charges by an unanimous jury
- Mr Richter says Pell will appeal
- Suppression orders prevent Australian media reporting the verdict but it spreads through international media within hours.
FEBRUARY 2019
- Hearings begin ahead of the second trial. Prosecutors drop another charge
- An appeal is filed against the cathedral trial conviction
- A County Court judge deems vital evidence inadmissible
- Prosecutors withdraw all remaining charges against Pell and drop a second trial over allegations Pell indecently assaulted boys in Ballarat in the 1970s when he was a parish priest
- Pell is due to be taken into custody on Wednesday February 27 as the plea hearing begins.
MARCH 2019
- Pell is due to be sentenced by County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd.
Australian Associated Press
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/02/26/the-rise-and-fall-of-george-pell-from-schoolboy-actor-to-child-sex-offender/
Main photo article George Pell has always towered over his contemporaries and for six decades until he was charged with child sex offences enjoyed standing centre stage.
From brilliant scholar and schoolboy athlete to being appointed the Catholic Church’s third-most senior cleric, Pell’s commanding...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/02/26/06/10294186-6745555-image-m-34_1551162145112.jpg
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий