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IN THE CHURCH
March 19, 2019 | The Valley Catholic
California Bishops Applaud Governor for Moratorium On Death Penalty
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CNS) --
The Catholic bishops of California
welcomed the March 13 decision by
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
“We appreciate this recognition
that the state has the adequate means
to defend human dignity and public
safety without recourse to capital pun-
ishment,” San Francisco Archbishop
Salvatore J. Cordileone said in a state-
ment on behalf of the state’s bishops.
California’s San Quentin State
Prison is located in his archdiocese.
The facility is California’s oldest peni-
tentiary and it houses the state’s only
death row for men and currently has
737 inmates condemned to death.
“We ask t he governor to urge
the Legislature to find a permanent
legislative solution that will end the
practice of capital punishment in our
state for good,” the archbishop said.
Because Newsom’s declaration is a
temporary reprieve for the death-row
inmates, Archbishop Cordileone said
he and his fellow catholic bishops are
encouraging him “to use well the time
of the moratorium to promote civil
dialogue on alternatives to the death
penalty, including giving more needed
attention and care to the victims of
violence and their families.”
“Capital punishment is not a cure
for the suffering and turmoil inflicted
by violent crime; the restorative heal-
ing of victims and their families to the
extent possible is an essential part of
justice,” the prelate said.
Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H.
Gomez in a separate statement said it
was “a good day for California and a
good day for our country” because of
Newsom’s decision.
“For many years now, my brother
Catholic bishops and I have been call-
ing for an end to the death penalty,
not only in California but throughout
the United States,” he said. “There are
important public policy reasons for
ending the death penalty.”
Capital punishment “does not deter
violent crime and it does not bring true
justice or healing to victims of violent
crime,” Archbishop Gomez said. “And
sadly, judicial execution has always
been a punishment imposed far more
often on African Americans, Hispan-
ics and the poor in our society. But the
California Governor Gavin Newsom
most important reasons for ending the
death penalty are moral.”
He said that “every human life is
precious and sacred in the eyes of God
and every person has a dignity that
comes from God. This is true for the
innocent and it is true for the guilty.
It is true even for those who commit
grave evil and are convicted of the
most cruel and violent crimes.”
The death penalty “violates the
condemned person’s dignity and
deprives that person of the chance
to change his or her heart and be
rehabilitated through the mercy of
God,” he explained. He also pointed
to advances in law enforcement and
criminal justice that keep society’s safe
so executing people in not necessary
in that regard.
But ending the death penalty is
only a first step, he said, and called
addressing inequities in the crimi-
nal justice system, improving prison
conditions in our prisons, providing
alternatives to incarceration “for non-
violent crimes” and looking for new
ways to rehabilitate offenders.
“Today, it is also important to re-
member the victims of violent crime
and their loved ones,” Archbishop
Gomez said. “We entrust them to the
Father of mercies and commit our-
selves to helping them to find healing
and peace.
“We should also give thanks for the
sacrifice and commitment of police
and law enforcement officials who put
their lives on the line every day to keep
our communities safe.”
Judge Sentences Cardinal Pell To Six Years In Prison On Abuse Charges
MELBOURNE, Australia (CNS)
-- Cardinal George Pell, 77, was sen-
tenced to six years in prison March 13,
just over two weeks after a Melbourne
court allowed the publication of news
that he had been found guilty of sexu-
ally abusing two boys.
Cardinal Pell, who continues to
maintain his innocence, will try to
appeal the verdict. The court has set
June 5-6 as the dates to consider the
basis for the appeal.
In December, a jury had found
him guilty on five charges, each of
which carried a maximum jail term
of 10 years.
The jury unanimously found that
Cardinal Pell, shortly after being
named archbishop of Melbourne in
1996, sexually assaulted two choir-
boys in the sacristy of Melbourne’s
St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The guilty
verdict regarded one count of “sexual
penetration,” in this case oral sex, and
four counts of indecent acts with or
in the presence of a minor under 16
years of age.
Judge Peter Kidd spent more than
one hour explaining the reasoning
behind his sentencing and the factors
he considered. He repeatedly referred
to the cardinal’s position of authority
Australian Cardinal George Pell is seen out-
side the County Court in Melbourne Feb. 27,
2019. (CNS photo/Erik Anderson, Reuters)
over the choirboys and the breach of
trust his actions caused.
“You were a pillar of St. Patrick’s
Cathedral by virtue of your position,”
Kidd told the cardinal.
“The brazenness of your conduct
is indicative of your power over the
victims,” he said.
The judge also said he had to con-
sider the cardinal’s age and health
problems, including noting that the
stress of imprisonment would exac-
erbate his hypertension and heart
condition.
He said he realized that “each year
you spend in custody” would repre-
sent a large portion of the remainder
of his life.
“You may not live to be released
from prison,” he said.
The judge said he did not consider
Cardinal Pell a risk to offend again
and noted that it had been more than
20 years since the incidents in the trial.
He also referred to character refer-
ences he had received.
However, he ordered the cardinal
to register as a sex offender and told
him he would remain on that registry
the rest of his life.
The cardinal will be eligible for
parole after three years and eight
months.
The verdict in this case was with-
held from the public while Cardinal
Pell was awaiting trial on other abuse
allegations, but when prosecutors
decided not to go forward with the
second case, a judge lifted the ban on
publishing the verdict Feb. 25.
The cardi nal’s legal team has
lodged an appeal that will be heard by
the Victorian Supreme Court (Appeal
Division) on three grounds. The first is
that the conviction by a 12-person jury
is “unreasonable” because it relied on
the “word of one complainant alone.”
“The verdicts are unreasonable and
cannot be supported, having regard to
the evidence,” the appeal says.
“On the whole evidence, including
unchallenged exculpatory evidence
from more than 20 crown witnesses, it
was not open to the jury to be satisfied
beyond reasonable doubt on the word
of the complainant alone.”
On this ground, the three appeals
judges can overturn and expunge
Cardinal Pell’s conviction and set
him free.
The second ground for appeal is a
complaint from his defense team that
it was stopped from using a visual
aid it wanted to use to show it was
impossible for the sexual activities to
have taken place in the back rooms of
the cathedral.
A final ground is that there was
a “fundamental irregularity” by the
judge that saw Cardinal Pell not physi-
cally enter a not-guilty-plea in front of
the jury. Lawyers said this was likely
because he had done so in a previous
trial where the jury was dismissed
after being unable to reach a verdict,
and the judge advised the new jury of
the cardinal’s plea.
On the last two grounds -- which
are of legal error -- the appeals judge
can overturn the verdict but must
order a fresh trial.