George Pell loses his appeal on sex abuse conviction, by Tessa Akerman.

The court of appeal has split their decision but George Pell’s appeal against his conviction has been rejected. …

Pell was appealing his conviction on five charges of historical child sex abuse.

The full judgment which will be made public later today is more than 300 pages.

It’s hard to believe that Pell was convicted on the evidence, which frankly seemed dubious. I suspect the jurors in the second case and the two judges who convicted him were swayed by the perceived “social need” to convict, rather than just evidence. He may simply have been convicted for being too politically incorrect.

This bodes badly for dissent in Australia. Cross the bureaucrats of the administrative state at your peril.