Our cover story for the February 2025 issue of The Monthly was an extraordinary and incendiary essay by award-winning journalist Louise Milligan, telling the story of some of the forgotten victims of the late Cardinal George Pell.
In between when we went to print with the issue and when it went on sale, we were made aware of a parallel civil case that was going through the courts. As a consequence, and in the interests of protecting the legal process, we made the decision to remove all reference to the essay from the website, and copies of the magazine from Victorian newsstands. Now, following a settlement on that case, we are finally – proudly – in a position to share Milligan’s journalism and the victims’ stories with subscribers to The Monthly again.
At his funeral, church leaders, supporters and dignitaries (including former prime ministers) declared that his legacy was best understood as the work of a great man, a great Catholic – and a martyr who had been hounded unjustly by enemies, but who died vindicated in the High Court. Walkley-winning journalist Louise Milligan had closely observed Pell in the past decade, as his public role was increasingly played out in the courts and legal machinations, amid allegations of child sex abuse, both perpetrated and covered up.When the High Court found, last November, that the church could no longer be found to be vicariously liable for the actions of priests in its employment, Milligan and others saw this as the true legacy of George Pell: a legal strategy that avoided blame and denied victims the justice they sought. Some of these victims – ignored and forgotten – felt driven to speak up and correct the record, and offer their testimony to Louise Milligan and The Monthly about the man who used his power to pervert the law and protect abusers, and who, himself, committed countless crimes for which he will never face the consequences.