Pell settles in to new residence in Sydney
Newly freed Cardinal George Pell is settling into residence in a Sydney seminary on Thursday after arriving late Wednesday night from a 900-kilometre road trip from Melbourne, according to Australian media reports.
Pell spent his second night out of jail in the Seminary of the Good Shepherd in suburban Sydney after a friend drove him all day from Melbourne, pursued by a string of reporters’ vehicles.
Pell, 78, was released from Melbourne jail on Tuesday after Australia’s High Court acquitted him of child sexual assault convictions.
During a brief refuelling stop, Pell bought newspapers and a phone charger. He told reporters he was “very pleased” with the court’s decision, but was not surprised, The Daily Telegraph reported.
“I knew I was innocent,” he said. Asked about what he would say to his accuser, he responded: “I would like to say that the court has made a very good decision.”
The Telegraph, which has been a strong supporter of Pell, reported it was expected the former senior Vatican official would begin a “quiet retirement” in a secluded house provided by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney.
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Pell was removed from his senior financial post in the Vatican in 2018 in the midst of his criminal prosecution on sexual assault of a choirboy in 1996 when he was Archbishop of Melbourne.
Pell told reporters during the fuel stop his more than 400 days behind bars were “not too bad.” (dpa)
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