Priest says media failed to highlight cardinal’s acquittal

A sermon about a cardinal acquitted after being convicted of child sexual abuse left parishioners confused, LRT reported. Priest Eugenijus Naujalis said he used the case to argue that people are quick to accuse others but slow to apologize.

Naujalis delivered the sermon on Sunday at St Vincent de Paul Church in Žemoji Panemunė. He did not name the cardinal, leaving some parishioners unsure who he meant or why he had raised the case while the Lithuanian Catholic Church is facing a clergy abuse scandal.

Naujalis told LRT Radio that he was referring to Australian Cardinal George Pell, who was convicted in 2018 of crimes against two boys and imprisoned. Australia’s High Court later overturned the convictions and acquitted him. Pell died in 2023.

The priest said media had widely reported Pell’s conviction but had not given the acquittal the same attention. He said he was speaking generally about Lithuanian media, not questioning the handling of current cases in Lithuania, which he said needed to be resolved.

Prosecutors in Lithuania have recently sent two cases involving priests to court. Tadas Švedavičius is accused of sexually abusing children over several decades, when they were aged 12 to 18. He admits guilt. Ryšardas Peciunas is accused of possessing child sexual abuse material. He denies the charge and says the images sent by families he knew were not pornographic.

Povilas Aleksandravičius, a professor at Mykolas Romeris University, said clergy should be taught to communicate clearly and handle facts responsibly. He said sermons should be guided by love and that the Church needed to address communication problems.

Another case mentioned in the report concerns Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz, who was born in the Vilnius district. The Vatican sanctioned him in 2020 for abusing minors and committing other crimes, while he remains an honorary citizen of the Vilnius district.