The Wall Street Journal - 21.08.2019

A6| Wednesday, August 21, 2019 *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

WORLD WATCH

AUSTRALIA

Cardinal’s Sex-Abuse

Conviction Is Upheld

Cardinal George Pell, the

most senior Roman Catholic

cleric ever to be jailed for child

sexual abuse, has lost his appeal

of his conviction.

The 78-year-old former Vati-

can finance chief was ordered

Wednesday to serve out the re-

mainder of his six-year sentence

in a maximum-security prison in

Australia, where as a convicted

pedophile he is likely to spend

much of his time isolated from

other prisoners.

A panel of judges ruled 2-1 to

uphold his December conviction

for assaulting two young choir-

boys inside the cathedral that

was the center of his diocese in

the late 1990s.

Three judges in the Supreme

Court of Victoria, the southeast-

ern state where the 78-year-old

cleric first served as a priest and

later was archbishop of Mel-

bourne, had been deliberating for

months and held an appeal hear-

ing in June.

Cardinal Pell is widely ex-

pected to challenge the decision

in the High Court of Australia.

Cardinal Pell’s conviction was

a landmark ruling in the wider

global scandal that has engulfed

the Roman Catholic Church and

has threatened to overshadow

Pope Francis’ reign.

In May, Vatican laid out new

rules for investigating bishops

over sexual abuse or for cover-

ing it up.

Wednesday’s judgment will

intensify pressure on the Vatican

to take action against the cleric.

The Vatican has reserved final

judgment on Cardinal Pell until

the appeal process concludes,

though it has banned him from

public ministry as a priest.

—Robb M. Stewart

BRAZIL

Sniper Kills Hijacker

Of Commuter Bus

Rio de Janeiro’s governor

lauded police after a sniper killed

a 20-year-old man who held

more than 30 commuters hos-

tage on a bus for about three

hours.

Gov. Wilson Witzel has called

for the use of police snipers to

combat Rio’s rampant crime, a

policy that has been criticized by

human-rights groups, which al-

lege it has caused the death of

innocent city residents.

“Our police showed great op-

erational capacity,” the governor

told reporters on Tuesday.

“Today there was no mistake.

We acted correctly,” he said.

The hijacker pointed a gun at

the hostages, but police later

said it appeared to be a toy.

None of the hostages was

harmed.

The man forced the bus to

stop on an 8-mile-long bridge

connecting Rio to the suburb of

Niterói, before being surrounded

by police, causing a traffic jam.

It wasn’t clear what the man,

identified by police as William da

Silva, wanted.

One of the hostages told lo-

cal news outlets the hijacker

looked calm, saw the news on a

passenger’s phone and bragged

about the buzz he was causing.

—Paulo Trevisani

SPRAY: Police in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir use water cannons to

disperse protests against the ouster of three mayors in the Kurdish-

populated southeast who are accused of having ties to rebels.

ILYAS AKENGIN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

lar party, with around 36%

support. The League has

served as the junior coalition

partner of the populist 5 Star

Movement since summer 2018.

In March 2018 elections, It-

aly’s mainstream parties suf-

fered a heavy defeat. Since

then, however, 5 Star has

struggled in government and

its support has halved, while

Mr. Salvini’s tough stance on

immigration has helped double

support for the League.

If Italy holds early elec-

tions, Mr. Salvini could be-

come the first leader of a ma-

jor EU nation who comes from

a self-described populist party

to the right of Europe’s main-

stream conservatives. The in-

terior minister, an avowed ad-

mirer of Russian President

Vladimir Putin, has challenged

the EU’s rules on fiscal disci-

pline, accusing Germany and

France of hypocritically break-

ing the rules while imposing

austerity on Italy.

Mr. Conte, a nonparty pre-

mier close to 5 Star, attacked

Mr. Salvini for undermining the

government in which Mr. Sal-

vini has served as interior min-

ister since June 2018. Mr. Sal-

vini said on Aug. 8 that he

wanted to “ask the Italians if

they want to give me full pow-

ers.” Some critics pointed out

that Italian fascist leader Benito

Mussolini used a similar phrase

to demand power in 1922.

“We don’t need people with

full powers, but people with a

culture of (respect for) institu-

tions and a sense of responsi-

bility,” Mr. Conte told the Sen-

ate on Tuesday. He accused Mr.

Salvini of putting personal and

party interests ahead of the

country’s needs and of lacking

respect for Italy’s constitution.

“We are the only supposed

fascists who want a vote,” Mr.

Salvini replied.

Italian President Sergio

Mattarella is expected to

sound out party leaders in

coming days to see whether a

new governing majority can be

assembled in Parliament. If

not, snap elections could take

place as early as late October.

Opinion polls suggest the

League could win an outright

majority in Parliament together

with two smaller allies: the far-

right Brothers of Italy and the

conservative Forza Italia of for-

mer Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Mr. Salvini’s push to bring

down the government and

trigger snap elections has

caused some disquiet in the

League, where some other se-

nior officials have privately

criticized their leader’s timing.

Italy has to submit a draft

budget plan to the EU by Oct.

15 and pass a budget law by

2020 that satisfies EU rules by

reducing Italy’s deficit and its

high national debt. The gov-

ernment needs to find signifi-

cant savings to avoid an al-

ready legislated increase in

value-added tax, the equiva-

lent of U.S. sales tax, which

could hurt already-fragile con-

sumer spending.

Mr. Salvini repeated on

Tuesday that he wants to slash

income taxes and, if necessary,

defy EU authorities.

As opposition senators

jeered, a defiant Mr. Salvini

said: “You’ve decided upon the

target. Here I am. You’ve de-

cided upon the danger to Italy

and Europe. Here I am.”

—Caitlin Ostroff in London

contributed to this article.

migrants from parts of Africa

and the Middle East.

Italy’s economy, the world’s

eighth-largest, still hasn’t fully

recovered from the 2008

global financial crisis and its

aftermath. A modest revival of

growth in 2016-17 has faltered

over the past year. Global

trade tensions have hit Italy’s

export-oriented industries.

Political tensions between

Rome and the EU last year also

upset investors in Italian bonds

and banks, hurting the flow of

credit. Mr. Conte warned on

Tuesday against a repeat.

Amid signs that the Demo-

crats and 5 Star are preparing

to discuss an alternative gov-

ernment, investors reached for

the Italian 10-year bond, push-

ing the yield down to 1.346% on

Tuesday from 1.441% Monday.

Mr. Salvini began pressing

for snap elections on Aug. 8,

in a bid to capitalize on opin-

ion polls that show the League

has become Italy’s most popu-

ContinuedfromPageOne

Italian

Government

Collapses

ANDREAS SOLARO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, above center, addressed the Senate in Rome on Tuesday, the day Premier Giuseppe Conte, below, resigned.

CLAUDIO PERI/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

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