Card Pell will appeal to highest court against his conviction

 Australian society is divided on its innocence.  The Court of Appeal that convicted him pronounced the sentence not unanimously.

Canberra (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Card.  George Pell has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court of Australia, after the Victoria Court of Appeal maintained its sentence of 6 years in prison for child sexual abuse.  The Victoria Court of Appeal pronounced the sentence not unanimously (2 to 1).

The case of Card. Pell has also divided the whole country among those who want to condemn him as an "example" for all cases of pedophilia and those who believe his innocence.

The cardinal was sentenced on 11 December 2018 for abusing two teenagers immediately after a solemn mass in the Cathedral in Melbourne, where he was archbishop.  The sentence is based solely on the testimony of one of the victims.  The other had retracted before he died from an overdose.  Dozens of other testimonies have shown the near impossibility to perform the acts attributed to Card.  Pell, without any other witnesses, at a time when the church was teeming with people.

Card  Pell, 78, remains in prison, where he is not allowed to celebrate mass.

In a note published on August 21st, after the conviction was confirmed, the Vatican, expressing "respect for the Australian judicial authorities", "acknowledges the decision to reject the appeal of Cardinal George Pell" and while waiting to know the  any further developments in the judicial proceedings, recalled that the Cardinal has always reaffirmed his innocence and that it is "his right to appeal to the High Court ”.