Chorister’s father sues Cardinal Pell

THE father of a deceased former choirboy is suing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and its former Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, on the grounds of the psychological injury that he says he has suffered after hearing the allegations that his son had been sexually abused. In 2020, Cardinal Pell had his 2018 conviction for child sexual abuse unanimously overturned by the Australian High Court (News, 9 April 2020). He had been serving a six-year prison sentence for the sexual abuse of two choirboys at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne in 1996 (News, 23 August 2019). The father of one of the choirboys has filed a civil case in the Supreme Court in Victoria seeking damages, court documents say. A hearing has been set for 4 August on the question of whether the Ellis defence — which allowed the RC Church to deny liability to alleged sexual-abuse survivors but was abolished in Victoria in 2018 — would apply.

Pope enacts Vatican investment policy

POPE FRANCIS has enacted a new five-year investment policy for the Holy See and the Vatican State in line with social doctrine, Vatican News reports. It is to start on 1 September. A statement on Tuesday said that the investments “are aimed at contributing to a more just and sustainable world; preserve the real value of the Holy See’s net worth, generating sufficient return to contribute in a sustainable way to financing its activities; are aligned with the teachings of the Catholic Church, with specific exclusions of financial investments that contradict its fundamental principles, such as the sanctity of life or the dignity of the human being or the common good.”

Ancient skills wanted to preserve stave churches

THE Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments is hoping to save the last 28 of Norway’s stave churches, The Times reports. These churches, some of which date from the 12th century, are named after the cured pinewood posts that support them. The structure must be tarred to keep the wood from decaying, but both the skills to do this, and the method of tar-making, are dying out, the Society says. It involves slowly burning pine logs in a stone oven covered in peat. The tar drips out and is captured and combined with coal dust so that it sticks to the wood to form a protective film. One member, Lars Erik Haugen, told the national broadcaster NRK: “Our global heritage is at stake.”