AUSTRALIA
The Newcastle Herald
August 17, 2018
By Joanne McCarthy
CARDINAL George Pell supporters are being asked to contribute to his legal fund as he prepares to defend charges of historical child sexual offences.
Advertisements in the Catholic Weekly and Annals Australasia, published by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart as a “journal of Catholic culture”, have invited donations since at least March to “help pay Cardinal Pell’s legal fees”.
Donations are held in a trust account by Victorian legal firm Ferdinand Zito & Associates. Cardinal Pell has pleaded not guilty to sexual offences against children in the late 1990s when he was Archbishop of Melbourne. He is also accused of sexual offences in Ballarat in the 1970s when he was a priest
After Cardinal Pell was committed to stand trial in May the Catholic Weekly carried an article on its website saying: “When Cardinal Pell took leave from his role as Prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy to voluntarily return to Australia nearly 12 months ago to fight the charges, many supporters wanted to contribute to his legal costs.”
But not all Catholics are happy with the request.
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