MELBOURNE: Convicted Australian Cardinal George Pell faced a fresh legal challenge Thursday, after a civil suit was filed against him for further alleged abuse in the 1970s.
Pell — the most senior Vatican official to be found guilty of child sex crimes — is currently in detention awaiting sentencing for assaulting two choirboys in Melbourne in the 1990s.
He maintains his innocence and an appeal is scheduled for June.
Pell had also faced trial on charges of abusing boys in a swimming pool in his home town of Ballarat in Victoria state, decades before, but the case was dropped by Australian prosecutors after his conviction.
Local media had reported one alleged victim in the Ballarat case was upset the criminal case was dropped and planned to take civil action.
Victoria Supreme Court officials said Thursday that the plaintiff — who cannot be named for legal reasons — lodged the suit Wednesday against Pell, authorities in Victoria, child services and the Sisters of Nazareth which ran the boys’ home where he lived at the time.
The court did not release further details of the suit.
Pell has been accused of fondling the boy’s genitals while playing a game in the swimming pool.
Pell’s lawyers had argued that the alleged victim, now aged around 50, lied and that if there was touching, it was purely accidental.
The plaintiff is seeking damages for psychiatric injury, loss of wages and medical expenses, The Australian newspaper reported.
Australia’s Cardinal Pell sued for alleged child abuse in 1970s
Australia’s Cardinal Pell sued for alleged child abuse in 1970s
- Local media had reported one alleged victim in the Ballarat case was upset the criminal case was dropped and planned to take civil action
Pentagon readies 1,500 soldiers to possibly deploy to Minnesota, Washington Post reports
- The Army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the state escalates
The US Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, the Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing defense officials.
The Army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the state escalates, the Washington Post report said.
The move comes after US President Donald Trump threatened to use the Insurrection Act if officials in the state don’t stop protesters from targeting immigration officials.
“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Thursday.
The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
