Cardinal George Pell, 78, will be released from prison after Australia’s High Court today unanimously allowed the appeal, quashing his child sexual abuse convictions.

The cardinal’s convictions were a landmark event in Australia’s judicial history, as was the High Court decision which was handed down less than a month after it heard two days of intense legal arguments from the Cardinal’s lawyers and Victorian prosecutors.

Chief Justice Susan Kiefel handed down the verdict in an empty High Court registry in Brisbane. Only three journalists were present to hear the ruling at 10am, on account of physical distancing measures implemented due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cardinal Pell was convicted to a six-year sentence in 2018 after abusng two choirboys in the 1990s when he was archbishop of Melbourne.

The acquittal means that Cardinal Pell will be released from Barwon Prison.

READ MORE: PM Scott Morrison is looking to strip Cardinal George Pell of his Order of Australia honour

A statement was released by Cardinal Pell shortly after the decision was delivered:

 

I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice.

This has been remedied today with the High Court’s unanimous decision. I look forward to reading the judgment and reasons for the decision in detail.

I hold no ill will toward my accuser, I do not want my acquittal to add to the hurt and bitterness so many feel; there is certainly hurt and bitterness enough.

However my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church; nor a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of paedophilia in the Church.

The point was whether I had committed these awful crimes, and I did not.

The only basis for long term healing is truth and the only basis for justice is truth, because justice means truth for all.

A special thanks for all the prayers and thousands of letters of support.

I want to thank in particular my family for their love and support and what they had to go through; my small team of advisors; those who spoke up for me and suffered as a result; and all my friends and supporters here and overseas.

Also my deepest thanks and gratitude to my entire legal team for their unwavering resolve to see justice prevail, to throw light on manufactured obscurity and to reveal the truth.

Finally, I am aware of the current health crisis. I am praying for all those affected and our medical frontline personnel.

Cardinal George Pell

Cardinal Pell’s legal battles are not over yet as civil lawsuits may follow, especially following the release of the Royal Commission’s findings about his conduct in Ballarat.

In the case of today’s decision, the High Court appeal did not ask whether Pell committed the offences but whetehr the two majority judges in the Victorian Court of Appeal, in dismissing Pell’s earlier appeal, made an error in the application of legal principles.

Blue Knot Foundation president Cathy Kezelman told the AAP that the decision to release Cardinal Pell as absolutely devastating.

“For many survivors, this decision will be crushing as the immense courage it takes to stand up and be seen and heard is enormous,” Dr Kezelman said.

READ MORE: Creating effective responses to child sexual abuse

Premier Daniel Andrews released a statement shortly after the verdict:

I make no comment about today’s High Court decision.
But I have a message for every single victim and survivor of child sex abuse:
I see you.
I hear you.
I believe you.