MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Associated Press
March 4, 2018
By Rod McGuirk
The alleged victims of the most senior Vatican official ever charged in the Catholic Church sex abuse crisis began giving testimony to an Australian court on Monday.
Australian Cardinal George Pell wore his clerical collar for the first day of the hearing in the Melbourne Magistrate Court to determine whether prosecutors have sufficient evidence to put him on trial. The committal hearing is scheduled to take up to a month.
Pope Francis’ former finance minister was charged in June of last year with sexually abusing multiple people in his Australian home state of Victoria. The details of the allegations against the cardinal have yet to be released to the public, though police have described the charges as “historical” sexual assault offenses — meaning the crimes that are alleged to have occurred decades ago.
Monday’s testimony of alleged victims was suppressed from publication and the courtroom was closed to the public and media.
Their testimony, which is expected to take up to two weeks, proceeded for two hours before the court was adjourned until Tuesday morning.
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