- This book is a very detailed and comprehensive history of the Pell case from an obviously intelligent and responsible journalist. I found it utterly absorbing.
- In the first 50 or so pages Morris-Marr relates her personal story as to how she got sucked into the telling of this drama in the first place, and in fact became obsessed by it. Her Herald Sun editor gave her a front page exclusive in February 2016 to reveal that Victoria Police had launched an investigation into claims of sexual abuse by Cardinal Pell.
- The reaction was swift and intense. Predictably, the rusted-on Pell supporters came out in droves. She copped serious flack and animosity from Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt and the reactionary, conservative cohort at The Australian. She knew her time working for Murdoch was over. She became a freelancer, working mostly with The New Daily and CNN.
- When the court processes get under way in the Melbourne Magistrates Court as part of the committal hearings, the lengthy detailed narrative begins. She infuses the story with a high level of drama. It's detailed and vivid, and told with empathy and sensitivity. Her journalistic skills shine through. Her focus is on the facts and legal processes and any biases she might have are kept well and truly in check.
- For many readers I'm sure, and many admirers of Louise Milligan's superb Cardinal, most of the story is well known. But Morris-Marr includes all sorts of detail and personal observations about how the central characters are interacting that make it all once again utterly engrossing.
- The press were not allowed to see or report on the accuser's testimony in court and Pell's defence barrister Richter's relentless questioning. She simply summarisers what the Prosecutor said about it during his closing submission. The power and persuasiveness of J’s testimony is the central issue. In an otherwise comprehensive and dramatic narrative it’s unfortunately a gaping hole. Judge Kidd ruled in the second trial that not even the transcript would be made available.
- The key question, as she puts it, was ‘Somebody in this case was lying. Was it the surviving accuser? Or was it Pell?’
- Pell was still fully robed after mass. The old ‘heavy robes’ defence was trotted out. Personally I've never swallowed this. Soutanes can be lightweight (if he was wearing one at all) as are the cotton albs and silky chasubles. There's no wool around, so there’s nothing heavy about them in the sense we normally understand that word. The offence occurred in December, in summer. In fact the appeals court judged Pell’s official robes ‘not so heavy or immovable as the evidence of Monsignor Portelli and Mr Potter had suggested’.
- Some new stuff I didn't know: in the second trial ‘Richter’s closing address had been extensively reworked in both content and structure. It had to be’.
- Friends of Pell at the beginning remained defenders of Pell at the end. Disappointingly, Father Frank Brennan also weighed in to support Pell, citing the pathetic ‘heavy robes’ defence.
- Judge Peter Kidd, in his sentencing address, was hardly wishy-washy: ‘Your conduct was permeated with staggering arrogance’.
- The book is very up-to-date (The Appeal Court's decision on 21 August, three weeks before publication, is covered in detail). The prosecution barrister had pressed one argument loud and clear: '...the surviving choirboy should and must be believed'.
- At the end of this fine book Morris-Marr indulges in some emotional, sensitive and very powerful reflections:
The elderly cardinal had found himself trapped in his own living hell, incarcerated in the very city where he once wielded so much power, the city where he proudly wore his elaborate mitre and carried his crosier in the procession with the choir out of the main doors of his cathedral. This was the choir from which one small, powerless, adolescent soprano walking in his red-and-white robes would eventually find the strength to speak up.
His allegations may eventually be discredited and ultimately rejected. But he has been heard. His voice has set a course of profound change, contrition and much needed inner reflection within the Holy See and the Roman Catholic Church around the world.
He may have given hope and a call to action to many voiceless survivors still struggling in the darkness, too frightened to tell, too damaged to share their experiences. He may also have brought courage to a woman in Gippsland who should have been saved, not ignored a tiny girl trapped in Ridsdale's ruthless grip.
For those many legacies, his voice will never be forgotten.
He'd proved to the world the meek really can inherit the earth.
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