The mainstream media vilified him. The court of public opinion pronounced him guilty even before his trial. And then an Australian Court followed suit and convicted him of sexually abusing two choir boys in 1996, while he was the Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia. George Cardinal Pell was the highest-ranking clergyman in the Roman Catholic Church to be convicted of child sexual abuse. But after serving thirteen months of a six-year sentence, Australia's highest court acquitted him of all charges by unanimous vote. Why the sudden turn around? Much of the evidence that would have found him innocent was ignored or never presented. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, the Vatican's one-time high-ranking official talks about the journals he wrote while in prison, that are now books in three volumes. Volume three just released is subtitled "The High Court Frees an Innocent Man". There is, however, more intrigue to the story. Pell's predicament may not have been just the conjuring of a media firestorm wanting to find another priest guilty of abuse. There's also speculation that the abuse allegations might have been trumped up as a smear campaign, secretively instigated by his enemies in Rome, upset over his financial reforms he was making to clean up the Vatican's financial messes. He was brought in by Pope Francis and answered to him alone. Find out what His Eminence, Cardinal Pell has to say about his accusers and his alleged enemies in the Eternal City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices