Self-evidently the accused man Cardinal George Pell is a very senior member of the Catholic Church,” Judge Kidd had told a group of more than 100 potential jurors on the first day of the case.
They were directed to disqualify themselves from sitting on the jury if they felt they could not be impartial, whether that was because they were Catholic or had strong feelings against the church.
A larger than normal jury pool had been organised as the court anticipated a number of community members would ask to be excused from sitting.
“This trial must not be used as an opportunity to make Cardinal Pell a scapegoat for conduct not contained in the charges or the conduct or failures of the Catholic Church more generally,” Judge Kidd had warned.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-26/george-pell-guilty-child-sexual-abuse-court-trial/10837564
Certainly, if you swore your oath on the Bible instead of making an affirmation or perhaps on the Quran or a different religious text, that might raise some eyebrows.
None of the juries should have been Catholic as the juror would not be impartial in that case. Many people are ineligible to sit on a jury for this reason.
