This is certainly a delicate subject and one on which a lot of people seem to have fairly polar viewa about (not the abuse of children, but the validity of the guilty verdicts).

This week in Australia there has been a lot in the news about Cardinal George Pell (one of the more powerful members of the Vatican if I believe what is written). He has been found guilty of tampering with a couple of alter boys in the mid 90s.

Since the verdict became public, there have been some very prominent people (former Prime Ministers, media personalities, pretty much anyone of note with a heavy far right agenda) who have publicly condemned the verdict and proclaimed their support of Pell. None of these people were in court to actually hear the evidence, so I'm not sure why they'd want to stick their necks out for him.

We have had his legal team stating that the charges should not be considered "aggravated sexual assault" because the accusation was of "vanilla penetration" - I mean what the actual fuck? The kid was too scared to fight back so it's less wrong????

Then there are those who have been gloating about his demise. While I think any kiddy fiddler is a pathetic piece of shit, I won't rejoice their convictions, because that means there had to have been victims. Victims that carry with them a life sentence.

There's also a lot of talk about the church being a "breeding ground" for these types. I'm not sure I believe that myself. Whilst it seems that the organisation does have a disproportionate number of rock spiders within its ranks, the fuckers are everywhere. I don't think the religion is the cause, however, but rather the historic anonymity and protection that the church was able to give these people.

The bastards are everywhere, and often the people you least expect. An acquaintance of mine took his own life last year, which came as a big surprise to me. He was always the happy husband and doting father. It was only when I talked to a workmate whose husband was fairly close to him, did I find out he was being investigated for child tampering and that the net was closing in on him. One of his best mates had no idea about this side of the guy. It still makes me feel sick thinking about it.

Finally on a slightly more entertaining note, here's a song done by Aussie musician Tim Minchin about George Pell when he was accused of covering up offenses within the church.

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