Cardinal George Pell walked out of prison on Tuesday after Australia's highest court reversed his 2018 conviction for molesting two choirboys decades earlier - liberating the most senior Roman Catholic cleric to ever face trial over child sexual abuse. The world may never be able to assess whether the court's reasoning was sound. The central evidence - the testimony of the main accuser, on which the case "was wholly dependent," the judges wrote - has never been released, not in video, audio nor even redacted transcripts. It is just one glaring example of the secrecy and lack of accountability that have shaped the Pell prosecution from the beginning. The case has been a model of opaque operations, starting with judges who dismissed related allegations early on, followed by gag orders preventing media coverage and a refusal to release evidence - even when a jury verdict is dismissed as unreasonable. Legal experts said that the case made clear just how much power judges in Australia have to suppress public oversight and overrule jury verdicts. At every stage, critics argue, Australia's courts exhibited a penchant for secrecy and insular decision-making that resembled the Catholic Church's flawed and damaging response to sexual abuse within its ranks. For many of those who have been living with the legacy of abuse in the church, the High Court's decision is a blow to their faith in a justice system they had just started to trust.