Redakcja magazynu Quadrant zdobyła zapis artykułu z Catholic Standard, z powodu którego cały nakład gazety został wycofany z rynku - przemielony. The Hobart’s Catholic Standard was being to delivered to parishes across the diocese when an extraordinary order was given to withdraw and pulp the edition. The reason was a short column by Professor David Daintree, director of the Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies, that not only defended the cardinal [Pell] but decried the “wickedness” of the many improbable accusations piled upon him.
The embargo on the Pell case has been lifted and we now know that he has been found guilty as charged and will be sentenced.I know Cardinal Pell well, I like him and respect him. I simply cannot believe that he is guilty.
He is not the first innocent man to be found guilty by a jury, nor will he be the last, but my confidence in the jury system has been weakened.
There are some similarities with the Lindy Chamberlain case of forty years ago: the judge summed up for an acquittal, but the jury had taken against her, almost certainly because they disliked her for her faith and the calm acceptance it engendered in her, so she went to jail. She was eventually exonerated, but there are still those who hold that she was guilty despite the total discrediting of the evidence that brought her to trial.
Likewise there are those who believe that Pell should be punished anyway, for being what he is, and that the truth or otherwise of the particular charge on which he has been convicted is irrelevant. Such views are repellent, for they subvert or ignore the principles on which our Law is based, but they are commonly expressed in tweets and similar unthinking outbursts.
Pell is a tough man and he will, by the Grace of God, survive the wickedness of his accusers and the silence of many who should defend him but won’t. Those who believe in prayer should pray for him, and for his alleged victim too, and for those who voted to condemn him. Quadrant On Line
| 
