The cardinal was Archbishop of Melbourne when he abused the two 13-year-old boys and was managing the church’s response to widespread child abuse by priests through the “Melbourne Response”, which he designed.

He was found guilty in a retrial last December, with the verdict sending shockwaves through the Vatican and around the world. A jury in an earlier trial was discharged, in September, when it was unable to reach a verdict. His legal team will appeal against the conviction.

County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd has now revoked the suppression order that prevented media reporting the results of the trial and retrial.

Pell emerged from the court building about 11.30am to a huge media pack. Flanked by police officers, he was jeered and abused by some people outside.

"You're an absolute animal," one man shouted at him as police and protective services officers ushered the cardinal to a waiting car.

"Burn in hell, Pell. Burn in hell, Pell," the man chanted.

Pell's victim released a statement via his lawyer, thanking his family for their support and the wider public for their interest in the case. He said the process had been stressful and was not over yet.

"Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life," the man said.

"At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust."

The man has requested privacy.

Read the victim's full statement here

"Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so," Pell's lawyer Paul Galbally said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Although originally the Cardinal faced allegations from a number of complainants, all charges except for those the subject of the appeal have now been either withdrawn, discharged or discontinued. He will not be commenting in the meantime."

The fallout

Pell was stripped of his position as the Vatican’s chief financial officer and expelled from Pope Francis’ inner circle of trusted cardinals known as the Group of Nine, or C-9, shortly after the verdict, but due to the suppression order the world’s media was forced to pretend Pell, 77, stepped down due to his age.

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On December 11, when Pell was found guilty of five charges including sexual penetration of a child under 16 – a charge his lawyer, Robert Richter, QC, likened to "oral rape" – the cardinal was granted bail and allowed to travel to Sydney to have knee surgery before he was due to face another trial on more sex abuse charges.

Pell will be the highest-ranking Catholic figure in the world to be jailed for child sex abuse.

Each of the five charges of which Pell has been found guilty carries a 10-year maximum prison term.

Judge Peter Kidd has said Pell will be remanded in custody after a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday. He is likely to be sentenced in the fortnight after that hearing.

There was an audible gasp in the courtroom on the afternoon of December 11 when a jury found Pell guilty of one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four of committing an indecent act with, or in the presence of, a child under 16.

The cardinal pursed his lips and stared at the floor, frowning, as he sat in the dock while the guilty verdicts were read out.

Pell's offending

Pell’s victims were two 13-year-old St Kevin's College students who were choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral when they were assaulted in December 1996 and February 1997. Both incidents took place after Sunday mass and while Pell was robed.

In the first incident, the choirboys broke away from a procession outside the cathedral and snuck back into the sacristy – a room where priests dress for mass – and were swigging sacramental wine when Pell walked in.

Pell, dressed in his Archbishop’s robes, told the boys they were in trouble and then exposed himself.

He pushed one of the boys close to his penis, before turning to the second boy and putting his penis in the boy’s mouth.

Pell then masturbated as he fondled the second boy’s genitals.

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In 1997, Pell pushed one of the boys against a wall in a cathedral hallway and squeezed the boy's genitals.

The second boy, who is now in his 30s, reported the allegations to police in 2015. He gave evidence across three days, and at one point said the offending was "something I've carried for the whole of my life".

The other victim died several years ago from a heroin overdose. He never reported the abuse and denied anything happened when he was asked by his mother.

Yet the evidence of the second victim was "powerful and persuasive" and withstood scrutiny under hours of cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson, SC, said.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury he was in shock after the abuse and didn't report it for years, partly out of fear he wouldn’t be believed.

"What would I do if I went forward and said such a thing about an archbishop?” he said.

He also feared his school scholarship would be jeopardised if he reported the offending.

"If I mentioned anything like that to anyone it would be a pretty big deal," he said.

"It would be something that I thought perhaps would be dismissed or not acknowledged and I knew that a scholarship [was] something that could be given and taken away, even at that age, and I didn't want to lose that. It meant so much to me."

So, he said, he put the events into one of the “dark corners or recesses” of his brain.

Mr Richter, who has previously accused Victoria Police of running a "get Pell operation", told the jury the allegations were a “far-fetched fantasy”.

It would have been impossible for two choirboys to break away from the procession unnoticed and enter the priests' sacristy, Mr Richter said.

Robert Richter, QC, arrives at Melbourne Magistrates Court with George Pell in July 2017. Credit:Joe Armao

He argued Pell was never left alone by church officials while robed as the Archbishop after mass.

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"Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priests’ sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass," Mr Richter said during the retrial.

Pell had just launched the controversial "Melbourne Response" to child sexual abuse when he assaulted the two boys in 1996.

It later emerged that victims who sought compensation through the Melbourne Response received far smaller payouts, capped at $50,000, than they would have if they had gone through the courts. The response was criticised for doing more to protect the church and minimise its financial costs than helping victims.

The suppressed verdict and the pending appeal

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Pell was due to face another trial, charged with molesting boys in a Ballarat swimming pool in the 1970s while he was a priest in his Victorian hometown.

But on Tuesday, prosecutor Fran Dalziel, SC, told the court the trial involving the swimmers would no longer go ahead because there was not enough admissable evidence to proceed. That paved the way for Judge Kidd to revoke the suppression order.

Pell's lawyers last week lodged an appeal with the Court of Appeal, and Mr Richter said on Tuesday he would challenge the verdict on the grounds it was unreasonable and contrary to the evidence the jury heard.

"This is not a frivolous appeal. There are substantial reasons to believe the verdict may be set aside for one reason or another," he said.

The Court of Appeal has the power to quash a conviction and order a retrial.

Mr Richter is likely to request that the court grant Pell bail while reviewing the case, but he conceded a jail term was inevitable if the conviction ultimately stood.

Media lawyers urged Judge Kidd to revoke the order immediately given the high public interest in the case. Ms Dalziel supported the media in their application.

After an adjournment, Mr Richter announced he was withdrawing his opposition to the suppression order being revoked, which allowed Judge Kidd to grant media permission to report the story.

In revoking the suppression order, Judge Kidd said there was a "very strong" ground for the public to be informed of Pell's guilt and his eventual sentence given the high public interest in the case.

Pell was found guilty about three months after a jury in the earlier trial was unable to reach a verdict on the same charges and was discharged, which forced a retrial.

The revelations about Pell come in the same month that the Catholic church defrocked former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, once the Archbishop of Washington DC, after he was found guilty of sex crimes.

Last week the church held a four-day summit at the Vatican on how best to tackle paedophilia within the clergy.

Pell was previously accused of sexually assaulting an altar boy, then 12, at a camp at Phillip Island in 1961. In 2002 a retired Supreme Court judge, hired by the church to investigate, found he was not satisfied the complaint was ever established.

In recent years, another man also reported to media that he saw Pell expose himself to three boys at the Torquay life saving club in 1986 or 1987. Pell denied both allegations.

The jury of eight men and four women in the retrial found Pell guilty after deliberating for 3½ days.

Pell stayed in the dock for some time once the verdict was delivered. He held hands with Mr Richter for a moment and shook the hands of his other supporters, including former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, who was regularly in court during the retrial. Mr Fischer is also a former Australian ambassador to the Holy See.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or beyondblue 1300 224 636.</s>We are wrapping up today's live blog on the guilty verdict handed down to Cardinal George Pell over child sex abuses.

Cardinal George Pell leaving the County Court where was found guilty of historic sexual offenses. Credit:Justin McManus

Here are some of the key responses to the verdict that have been collected in this live blog.</s>
• George Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic cleric, has been convicted of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996 and 1997 at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
• Pell was the archbishop of Melbourne at the time and until recently, also one of Pope Francis' closest advisors.
• The conviction was handed down by the Victorian County Court in December last year but a suppression order prevented media outlets in Australia from reporting his identity until now.
• Pell's legal team indicated they would appeal the conviction. He will attend a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday and is expected to be sentenced in the next two weeks.

George Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic cleric, has been convicted of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996 and 1997 at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Pell was the archbishop of Melbourne at the time and until recently, also one of Pope Francis' closest advisors. His conviction will send shockwaves through the Catholic Church, which has been trying to deal with the implications and widespread damage of institutional sexual abuse.

The conviction was handed down by the Victorian County Court in December last year but a suppression order prevented media outlets in Australia from reporting his identity until now.

Pell was found guilty of sexual penetration of a child under 16 years old and four counts of an indecent act with or in the presence of a child, according to the ABC.

Pell's legal team indicated they would appeal the conviction. He will attend a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday and is expected to be sentenced in the next two weeks.

The Sydney Morning Herald has the full details »</s>Australian Cardinal George Pell, who used to be the third most powerful figure in the Vatican, was found guilty of child sexual abuses by a jury in Melbourne, judicial sources announced Tuesday.

Pell, the highest-ranking priest of the Australian Catholic Church, raped a 13-year-old altar boy in the 1990s and sexually abused another boy of the same age at the prestigious St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne.</s>As a suppression order was lifted and Australian news outlets were finally able to report Cardinal George Pell had been found guilty of child sex crimes, the world was watching for the nation’s reaction.

Now the horrific verdict from December can be freely reported, anger is echoing across the globe in another shameful indictment on the Catholic Church.

“This is absolutely explosive,” CNN’s Anna Coren reported. “It will send shockwaves not just here in Australia but certainly around the world, right to the top of the Vatican.”

The BBC’s religion editor Martin Bashir said the news confirmed “the poison of sexual abuse has infected every level of the Roman Catholic Church”.

He said the guilty verdict for the most senior Australian Catholic and one of the pontiff’s closest aides was “a grave blow not just to the church but also to Pope Francis personally”.

He noted Pell was known by some officials as “Cardinal Rambo”, a term of endearment because of his bullish reform of Vatican finances.

Pell becomes the most senior Catholic cleric convicted of child sex crimes after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting two choirboys at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in the 1990s. An Australian jury unanimously found the 77-year-old guilty in December on one count of sexual abuse and four counts of indecent assault against the two boys.

Pell’s victims were two 13-year-old boys on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevin’s College. The court heard Pell, then Archbishop of Melbourne, caught the pair swigging sacramental wine after Sunday mass in December 1996. Pell chastised them and then exposed his penis from beneath his ceremonial robes before molesting them, the court heard.

One of the survivors, now in his 30s, brought the allegations to police after years of struggling to understand what he’d experienced. “He pulled out his penis and then grabbed (my friend’s) head,” said the man. “(My friend’s) head was being controlled and it was down near Archbishop Pell’s genitals.”

The former choirboy said Pell then turned to him. “I was pushed down and crouching or kneeling,” he said. “Archbishop Pell was standing. He was erect and he pushed it into my mouth.”

Pell then told the boy to take off his pants. “He started touching my genitalia, masturbating or trying to do something with my ­genitalia,” the man told the court. “Archbishop Pell was touching himself on his penis with his other hand.”

A month or so after Pell raped him, the man was sexually assaulted by Pell again when he pushed him against a cathedral wall and fondled his genitalia.

“Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle,” the survivor said in a statement released after the verdict was revealed. “It has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life.

“At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared, and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust.”

At the time of the verdict, newspapers ran front pages about the suppression order without revealing the details. “IT’S THE NATION’S BIGGEST STORY,” said the Daily Telegraph. “Yet we can’t publish it.”

Several international news outlets not bound by the restrictions did report on the verdict and were curious to see how Australia would react to news that many may have already read online but can now be freely discussed.

The Washington Post, which was one of these outlets, reported Australian-style gag orders imposed by judges “would be considered censorship” and a violation of the constitution in the United States. It observed such restrictions, also used in Britain, had become less effective now readers could access international media online, as well as rumour and misinformation on social media.

Gag orders are intended to prevent juries from being affected by reports of current or previous trials involving a defendant. Pell was due to face a separate trial later this year, involving several alleged victims, but the charges have been dropped. The trial would have centred on charges that he sexually assaulted two boys at Ballarat’s Eureka swimming pool in the late 1970s. Prosecutors alleged Pell molested the boys while playing with them and throwing them during visits to the pool but dropped the case after one accuser died, another charge was withdrawn and one was thrown out in the Magistrates’ Court.

“It is painful news that, we are well aware, has shocked many people, not just in Australia,” the Vatican said in a statement. “Cardinal Pell has reaffirmed his innocence and has the right to defend himself to the last degree.

“As we await the definitive verdict, we join the Australian bishops in praying for all victims of abuse, reaffirming our commitment to do everything possible so that the Church is a safe home for everyone, especially for children.”

On the order of Pope Francis, the “precautionary measures” already in place against Pell still stand, and he is “forbidden to exercise the public exercise of the ministry and have any contact in any form with minors”.

Three clergy abuse survivors who attended the summit told CBS News on Monday they still wanted to know why the Church had not laid out concrete steps to stop child sex abuse. Survivor and former nun Mary Dispenza said she did not “think our children are any safer now than four days ago, by what I heard”.

US victim support group SNAP said in a statement: “We hope that his conviction will not only bring healing to his victims in Australia but hope to survivors across the world who are yearning for accountability at the top levels of the church.

“We believe (the) conviction will make Australian children safer and parents and parishioners better informed about how to prevent sexual abuse.”

Many church officials believe Pell is innocent, with some suggesting charges were part of a conspiracy against the cardinal for trying to reform Church finances.

Pell has faced years of negative coverage over his response to paedophile priests including the notorious Gerald Ridsdale, a former friend of his who was convicted of the abuse and indecent assault of 65 children, some aged as young as four years old.

Pell’s hometown of Ballarat had such a high incidence of sexual abuse the city was used as a case study in the final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, to which Pell gave evidence in 2016 via video link from Rome.

Some believe Pell became a poster child for all that went wrong with the way the Catholic Church handled the abuse scandal.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was “deeply shocked” at the guilty verdict. “I respect the fact that this case is under appeal, but it is the victims and their families I am thinking of today, and all those who have suffered from sexual abuse by those they should have been able to trust but couldn’t,” he said.

“Their prolonged pain and suffering will not have ended today. While due process continues, our justice system has affirmed no Australian is above the law.”

Liberal MP Tony Abbott, a Catholic and vocal supporter of Pell in the past, has not commented.

Senators Derryn Hinch and Sarah Hanson-Young are among those calling for the cardinal to be stripped of his Companion of the Order of Australia.</s>Cardinal George Pell leaves the County Court in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass, dealing a new blow to the Catholic hierarchy’s credibility after a year of global revelations of abuse and cover-up. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)

The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass, dealing a new blow to the Catholic hierarchy’s credibility after a year of global revelations of abuse and coverup.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ top financial adviser and the Vatican’s economy minister, bowed his head but then regained his composure as the 12-member jury delivered unanimous verdicts in the Victoria state County Court on Dec. 11 after more than two days of deliberation.

The court had until Tuesday forbidden publication of any details about the trial.

Pell faces a potential maximum 50-year prison term after a sentencing hearing that begins on Wednesday. He lodged an appeal last week of the convictions.

Details of the trial had been suppressed because until Tuesday, Pell had faced a second trial in April on charges that he indecently assaulted two boys aged 9 or 10 and 11 or 12 as a young priest in the late 1970s in a public pool in his hometown of Ballarat.

Prosecutor Fran Dalziel told the court on Tuesday that the Ballarat charges had been dropped and asked for the suppression order to be lifted. The move came days after a judge ruled out two key prosecution witnesses in the Ballarat case.

READ MORE: Pope vows to end abuse coverups but victims disappointed

Acting Holy See spokesman Alessandro Gisotti read a statement to reporters Tuesday at the Vatican, saying Pope Francis has confirmed “precautionary measures” already taken against Pell, including a ban on his saying Mass in public and “as is the rule, contact in any way or form with minors.”

The victim who testified at Pell’s trial said after the conviction was revealed that he has experienced “shame, loneliness, depression and struggle.” In his statement, the man said it had taken him years to understand the impact the assault had on his life.

Lawyer Lisa Flynn said the father of the second victim, who died of a heroin overdose in 2014 at the age of 31, is planning to sue the church or Pell individually once the appeal is resolved.

Pell was surrounded by a crush of cameras and members of the public as he was ushered from the courthouse to a waiting car. “You’re a monster!” one man shouted. “You’re going to burn in hell, you freak!”

“Are you sorry?” one woman shouted. Pell did not respond.

Another of Pell’s lawyers, Paul Galbally, said Pell continued to maintain his innocence.

The revelations came in the same month that the Vatican announced Francis approved the expulsion from the priesthood of a former high-ranking American cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, for sexual abuse of minors and adults.

The convictions were also confirmed days after Francis concluded his extraordinary summit of Catholic leaders summoned to Rome for a tutorial on preventing clergy sexual abuse and protecting children from predator priests.

Australia’s ranking bishop, Mark Coleridge, who delivered the homily at the final Mass of the summit, said Pell’s convictions “shocked many across Australia and around the world, including the Catholic Bishops of Australia.”

“The bishops agree that everyone should be equal under the law and we respect the Australian legal system,” said Coleridge, who is president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

The lifting of the suppression order was welcomed by SNAP, a U.S. support group for victim of clergy abuse.

“We hope that his conviction will not only bring healing to his victims in Australia but hope to survivors across the world who are yearning for accountability at the top levels of the church,” SNAP said in a statement. “We believe (the) conviction will make Australian children safer and parents and parishioners better informed about how to prevent sexual abuse.”

The jury convicted Pell of abusing two boys whom he had caught swigging sacramental wine in a rear room of Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral in late 1996, as hundreds of worshippers were streaming out of Sunday services.

Pell, now 77 but 55 at the time, had just been named the most senior Catholic in Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne.

The boys were both 13 years old. The jury also found Pell guilty of indecently assaulting one of the boys in a corridor more than a month later.

Pell had maintained his innocence throughout, describing the accusations as “vile and disgusting conduct.”

READ MORE: B.C. woman shares story of abuse with church officials ahead of Vatican summit

Pell’s lawyer, Robert Richter, had told the jury that only a “mad man” would take the risk of abusing boys in such a public place. He said it was “laughable” that Pell would have been able to expose his penis and force the victim to take it in his mouth, given the cumbersome robes he was wearing.

Both he and Chief Judge Peter Kidd urged the jury of eight men and four women not to punish Pell for all the failings of the Catholic Church, which in Australia have been staggering.

Along with Ireland and the U.S., Australia has been devastated by the impact of the clerical abuse scandal, with a Royal Commission inquiry finding that 4,444 people reported they had been abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia between 1980 and 2015.

As a result, Pell’s trial amounted to something of a reckoning for survivors, with the brash and towering cardinal becoming the poster child for all that went wrong with the way the Catholic Church handled the scandal.

The conviction capped a year that had been so dominated by revelations of high-ranking sex abuse and coverup that analysts openly speak of a crisis unparalleled since the Reformation. In addition to Pell, the allegations against McCarrick of groping a minor in the 1970s and of sleeping with adult seminarians became public.

As a result of the scandal, Francis’ approval ratings have tanked in the United States, and his standing with conservative Catholics around the world has plunged.

When the jury chairman delivered the first guilty verdict, Pell’s hands slipped from the arm rests of the chair where he sat in the dock at the back of the courtroom. His head bowed after the second verdict, but he restored his composure for the final verdicts.

Pell, who walked to and from court throughout his monthlong trial with a crutch under his right arm, was released on bail to undergo surgical knee replacements in Sydney on Dec. 14.

The first four offences occurred at the first or second Solemn Mass that Archbishop Pell celebrated as leader of the magnificent blue-stone century-old cathedral in the centre of Melbourne. Pell was wearing his full robes — though not his staff or pointed bishops’ hat — at the time.

The now 34-year-old survivor told the court that Pell orally raped him, then crouched and fondled the complainant’s genitals while masturbating.

“I was young and I didn’t really know what had happened to me. I didn’t really know what it was, if it was normal,” the complainant told the court.

The other victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 without ever complaining of the abuse, and even denying to his suspicious mother that he had been molested while he was part of the choir.

Neither boy can now be identified, because it is illegal to name victims of sexual assault in Victoria state.

Pell was initially charged with orally raping the second boy. But that charge was downgraded to indecent assault when the victim who testified said that he couldn’t see the other’s boy mouth at that moment from his vantage point.

More than a month later, the complainant testified that Pell pushed him against a cathedral corridor wall after a Mass and squeezed the boy’s genitals painfully before walking away in silence.

“Pell was in robes and I was in robes. He squeezed and kept walking,” the complainant told the jurors. “I didn’t tell anyone at the time because I didn’t want to jeopardize anything. I didn’t want to rock the boat with my family, my schooling, my life.”

The complainant testified that he feared that making such accusations against a powerful church man would cost him his place in the choir and with it his scholarship to prestigious St. Kevin’s College.

Pell pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of wilfully committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 in late 1996 and early 1997.

He did not testify at his trial. But the jury saw a video recording of an interview he gave Australian detectives in Rome in 2016 in which he stridently denied the allegations.

Pell grimaced, appearing incredulous and distressed, waved his arms over his head and muttered to himself as the detectives detailed the accusations that his victim had levelled against him a year earlier.

“The allegations involve vile and disgusting conduct contrary to everything I hold dear and contrary to the explicit teachings of the church which I have spent my life representing,” Pell told police.

Richter told the jury that the prosecution case compounded a series of improbabilities and impossibilities.

He told the jury that Pell could not have “parted” his robes as the complainant had described.

The jury was handed the actual cumbersome robes Pell wore as archbishop.

More than 20 witnesses, including clerics, choristers and altar servers, testified during the trial. None recalled ever seeing the complainant and the other victim break from a procession of choristers, altar servers and clerics to go to the back room.

The complainant testified that he and his friend had run from the procession and back into the cathedral through a side door to, as Prosecutor Mark Gibson said, “have some fun.”

Monsignor Charles Portelli, who was the cathedral’s master of ceremonies in the 1990s, testified that he was always with Pell after Mass to help him disrobe in the sacristy.

The defence argued that Pell’s usual practice was to linger at the cathedral front steps talking to members of the congregation after Mass. But Gibson said there was evidence that Pell didn’t always chat outside and had the opportunity to commit the crimes.

The lifting of the gag order comes after Francis charted a new course for the Catholic Church to confront clergy sexual abuse and coverup, a scandal that has consumed his papacy and threatens the credibility of the Catholic hierarchy at large.

Opening a first-ever Vatican summit on preventing abuse, Francis warned 190 bishops and religious superiors last week that their flocks were demanding concrete action, not just words, to punish predator priests and keep children safe. He offered them 21 proposals to consider going forward, some of them obvious and easy to adopt, others requiring new laws.

But Francis went into the meeting even more weakened and discredited after one of his top advisers was convicted of the very crime he has now decided is worth fighting on a universal scale.

Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.</s>(MELBOURNE, Australia) — The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass, dealing a new blow to the Catholic hierarchy’s credibility after a year of global revelations of abuse and cover-up.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ top financial adviser and the Vatican’s economy minister, bowed his head but then regained his composure as the 12-member jury delivered unanimous verdicts in the Victoria state County Court on Dec. 11 after more than two days of deliberation.

The court had until Tuesday forbidden publication of any details about the trial.

Pell faces a potential maximum 50-year prison term after a sentencing hearing that begins on Wednesday. He has foreshadowed an appeal.

The revelations came in the same month that the Vatican announced Francis approved the expulsion from the priesthood for a former high-ranking American cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, for sexual abuse of minors and adults.

The convictions were also confirmed days after Francis concluded his extraordinary summit of Catholic leaders summoned to Rome for a tutorial on preventing clergy sexual abuse and protecting children from predator priests.

The jury convicted Pell of abusing two 13-year-old boys whom he had caught swigging sacramental wine in a rear room of Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral in late 1996, as hundreds of worshippers were streaming out of Sunday services.

Pell, now 77 but 55 at the time, had just been named the most senior Catholic in Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne.

The jury also found Pell guilty of indecently assaulting one of the boys in a corridor more than a month later.

Pell had maintained his innocence throughout, describing the accusations as “vile and disgusting conduct” that went against everything he believed in.

His lawyer had told the jury that only a “mad man” would take the risk of abusing boys in such a public place. He said it was “laughable” that Pell would have been able to expose his penis and force the victim to take it in his mouth, given the cumbersome robes he was wearing.

Both he and Chief Judge Peter Kidd urged the jury of eight men and four women not to punish Pell for all the failings of the Catholic Church, which in Australia have been staggering.

“You must not scapegoat Cardinal Pell,” Kidd told the jury.

Along with Ireland and the U.S., Australia has been devastated by the impact of the clerical abuse scandal, with a Royal Commission inquiry finding that 4,444 people reported they had been abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia between 1980 and 2015.

Pell’s own hometown of Ballarat had such a high incidence of abuse — and, survivors say, a correlated higher-than-average incidence of suicide — that the city warranted its own case study in the Royal Commission report.

As a result, Pell’s trial amounted to something of a reckoning for survivors, with the brash and towering cardinal becoming the poster child for all that went wrong with the way the Catholic Church handled the scandal.

The conviction capped a year that had been so dominated by revelations of high-ranking sex abuse and cover-up that analysts openly speak of a crisis unparalleled since the Reformation. In addition to Pell, the allegations against McCarrick of groping a minor in the 1970s and of sleeping with adult seminarians became public.

As a result of the scandal, Francis’ approval ratings have tanked in the United States, and his standing with conservative Catholics around the world — already on shaky ground over his outreach to divorcees — has plunged.

Up until the verdict, Pell’s lawyers had appeared confident that they had established a reasonable doubt and had expected quick verdicts of not guilty.

When the jury chairman delivered the first guilty verdict, Pell’s hands slipped from the arm rests of the chair where he sat in the dock at the back of the courtroom. His head bowed after the second verdict, but he restored his composure for the final verdicts.

Pell, who walked to and from court throughout his month-long trial with a crutch under his right arm, was released on bail to undergo surgical knee replacements in Sydney on Dec. 14. Prosecutor Mark Gibson did not oppose bail, saying the surgery would be more easily managed outside the prison system.

The first four offenses occurred at the first or second Solemn Mass that Archbishop Pell celebrated as leader of the magnificent blue-stone century-old cathedral in the center of Melbourne. Pell was wearing his full robes — though not his staff or pointed bishops’ hat — at the time.

The now 34-year-old survivor told the court that Pell orally raped him, then crouched and fondled the complainant’s genitals while masturbating.

“I was young and I didn’t really know what had happened to me. I didn’t really know what it was, if it was normal,” the complainant told the court.

The other victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 without ever complaining of the abuse, and even denying to his suspicious mother that he had been molested while he was part of the choir.

Neither boy can now be identified.

Pell was initially charged with orally raping the second boy. But that charge was downgraded to indecent assault when the complainant testified that from his vantage point he couldn’t see Pell’s penis enter the second boy’s mouth.

More than a month later, the complainant testified that Pell pushed him against a cathedral corridor wall after a Mass and squeezed the boy’s genitals painfully before walking away in silence.

“Pell was in robes and I was in robes. He squeezed and kept walking,” the complainant told the jurors. “I didn’t tell anyone at the time because I didn’t want to jeopardize anything. I didn’t want to rock the boat with my family, my schooling, my life.”

The complainant testified that he feared that making such accusations against a powerful church man would cost him his place in the choir and with it his scholarship to prestigious St. Kevin’s College.

Pell pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of willfully committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 in late 1996 and early 1997.

He did not testify at his trial. But the jury saw a video recording of an interview he gave Australian detectives in Rome in 2016 in which he stridently denied the allegations.

Pell grimaced, appearing incredulous and distressed, waved his arms over his head and muttered to himself as the detectives detailed the accusations that his victim had leveled against him a year earlier.

“The allegations involve vile and disgusting conduct contrary to everything I hold dear and contrary to the explicit teachings of the church which I have spent my life representing,” Pell told police.

Richter, Pell’s lawyer, told the jury that the prosecution case compounded a series of improbabilities and impossibilities.

He told the jury that Pell could not have “parted” his robes as the complainant had described.

The jury was handed the actual cumbersome robes Pell wore as archbishop. Over his regular clothes, Pell would wear a full-length white robe called an alb that was tied around his waist with a rope-like cincture. Over that, he would drape a 3-meter (10-foot) band of cloth called a stole around his neck. The outermost garment was the long poncho-like chasuble.

More than 20 witnesses, including clerics, choristers and altar servers, testified during the trial. None recalled ever seeing the complainant and the other victim break from a procession of choristers, altar servers and clerics to go to the back room.

The complainant testified that he and his friend had run from the procession and back into the cathedral through a side door to, as Gibson, the prosecutor, said, “have some fun.”

Monsignor Charles Portelli, who was the cathedral’s master of ceremonies in the 1990s, testified that he was always with Pell after Mass to help him disrobe in the sacristy.

The defense argued that Pell’s usual practice was to linger at the cathedral front steps talking to members of the congregation after Mass. But Gibson said there was evidence that Pell didn’t always chat outside and had the opportunity to commit the crimes.

The lifting of the gag order comes after Francis charted a new course for the Catholic Church to confront clergy sexual abuse and cover-up, a scandal that has consumed his papacy and threatens the credibility of the Catholic hierarchy at large.

Opening a first-ever Vatican summit on preventing abuse, Francis warned 190 bishops and religious superiors last week that their flocks were demanding concrete action, not just words, to punish predator priests and keep children safe. He offered them 21 proposals to consider going forward, some of them obvious and easy to adopt, others requiring new laws.

But Francis went into the meeting even more weakened and discredited after one of his top advisers was convicted of the very crime he has now decided is worth fighting on a universal scale.

Pell’s downfall will invariably tarnish the pope, since Francis appointed Pell economy minister in 2014 even though some of the allegations against him were known at the time.

In October, Francis finally cut Pell loose, removing him as a member of his informal cabinet. Pell technically remains prefect of the Vatican’s economy ministry, but his five-year term expires this year and is not expected to be renewed.</s>The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted in Australia of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass.

The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted in Australia of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ top financial adviser and the Vatican’s economy minister, bowed his head but then regained his composure as the 12-member jury delivered unanimous verdicts in the Victoria state County Court on December 11 after more than two days of deliberation.

The court had until Tuesday forbidden publication of any details about the trial.

Pell faces a potential maximum 50-year prison term after a sentencing hearing that begins on Wednesday. He has foreshadowed an appeal.

The convictions were confirmed days after Francis concluded his extraordinary summit of Catholic leaders summoned to Rome for a tutorial on preventing clergy sexual abuse and protecting children from predator priests.

The jury convicted Pell of abusing two 13-year-old boys whom he had caught drinking sacramental wine in a rear room of a Melbourne cathedral in late 1996, as hundreds of worshippers were streaming out of Sunday services.

Pell, now 77 but 55 at the time, had just been named the most senior Catholic in Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne.

The jury also found Pell guilty of indecently assaulting one of the boys in a corridor more than a month later.

Pell had maintained his innocence throughout, describing the accusations as “vile and disgusting conduct” that went against everything he believed in.

His lawyer had told the jury that only a “mad man” would take the risk of abusing boys in such a public place.

Both he and Chief Judge Peter Kidd urged the jury of eight men and four women not to punish Pell for all the failings of the Catholic Church.

“You must not scapegoat Cardinal Pell,” Mr Kidd told the jury.

Along with Ireland and the US, Australia has been devastated by the impact of the clerical abuse scandal, with a Royal Commission inquiry finding that 4,444 people reported they had been abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia between 1980 and 2015.

Pell, who walked to and from court throughout his month-long trial with a crutch under his right arm, was released on bail to undergo surgical knee replacements in Sydney on December 14.

Prosecutor Mark Gibson did not oppose bail, saying the surgery would be more easily managed outside the prison system.

Mr Kidd warned that the continuing bail was not a sign that the 77-year-old would avoid a prison sentence.

One victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 without ever complaining of the abuse, and even denying to his suspicious mother that he had been molested while he was part of the choir.

Neither boy can be identified.

“I didn’t tell anyone at the time because I didn’t want to jeopardise anything. I didn’t want to rock the boat with my family, my schooling, my life,” the other victim told the jurors.

Pell pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of wilfully committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 in late 1996 and early 1997.

Pell did not testify at his trial. But the jury saw a video recording of an interview he gave Australian detectives in Rome in 2016 in which he stridently denied the allegations.

The lifting of the gag order comes after Francis charted a new course for the Catholic Church to confront clergy sexual abuse and cover-up.

Opening a first-ever Vatican summit on preventing abuse, Francis warned 190 bishops and religious superiors last week that their flocks were demanding concrete action, not just words, to punish predator priests and keep children safe.

He offered them 21 proposals to consider going forward, some of them easy to adopt, others requiring new laws.

In October, Francis removed Pell him as a member of his informal cabinet. Pell technically remains prefect of the Vatican’s economy ministry, but his five-year term expires this year and is not expected to be renewed.</s>It was revealed Tuesday a former top aide to Pope Francis was convicted by an Australian court of molesting two choirboys. Cardinal George Pell is the highest-ranking church official ever convicted of abuse.

Pell was heckled as he left the Melbourne court as some jeered, "Absolute pig! You're a monster!

One of the most powerful men in the Catholic Church, the former Vatican treasurer and top adviser to Francis was convicted of sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys in 1996.

The verdict had been suppressed for more than two months due to a gag order imposed by the court meant to avoid prejudicing a jury for a separate trial — now dropped due to a lack of evidence.

Pell has always maintained his innocence.

"The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me," Pell said June 29, 2017.

His legal team filed an appeal. Tuesday, the Vatican said it would await that verdict before taking any action, but confirmed restrictions on Pell.

"Cardinal Pell is prohibited from exercising public ministry and from having any voluntary contact whatsoever with minors," said Vatican spokesperson Alessandro Gisotti.

This follows the Vatican sex abuse summit criticized by victims for the lack of concrete results. Father Hans Zollner was one of the summit organizers.

"We see that nobody is untouchable," Zollner said. "We have seen this with former Cardinal and Priest [Theodore] McCarrick — if it is confirmed, we have seen this now with Cardinal Pell who has been subject to a trial."

Those consequences could include being defrocked or removed from the College of Cardinals. Pell faces up to 50 years in prison.</s>The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted in Australia of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis' top financial adviser and the Vatican's economy minister, bowed his head but then regained his composure as the 12-member jury delivered unanimous verdicts in the Victoria state County Court on December 11 after more than two days of deliberation.

The court had until Tuesday forbidden publication of any details about the trial.

Pell faces a potential maximum 50-year prison term after a sentencing hearing that begins on Wednesday. He lodged an appeal last week against the convictions.

The convictions were confirmed days after Francis concluded his extraordinary summit of Catholic leaders summoned to Rome for a tutorial on preventing clergy sexual abuse and protecting children from predator priests.

The jury convicted Pell of abusing two 13-year-old boys whom he had caught drinking sacramental wine in a rear room of a Melbourne cathedral in late 1996, as hundreds of worshippers were streaming out of Sunday services.

Pell, now 77 but 55 at the time, had just been named the most senior Catholic in Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne.

The jury also found Pell guilty of indecently assaulting one of the boys in a corridor more than a month later.

Pell had maintained his innocence throughout, describing the accusations as "vile and disgusting conduct" that went against everything he believed in.

His lawyer had told the jury that only a "mad man" would take the risk of abusing boys in such a public place.

Both he and Chief Judge Peter Kidd urged the jury of eight men and four women not to punish Pell for all the failings of the Catholic Church.

"You must not scapegoat Cardinal Pell," Mr Kidd told the jury.

Along with Ireland and the US, Australia has been devastated by the impact of the clerical abuse scandal, with a Royal Commission inquiry finding that 4,444 people reported they had been abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia between 1980 and 2015.

Pell, who walked to and from court throughout his month-long trial with a crutch under his right arm, was released on bail to undergo surgical knee replacements in Sydney on December 14.

Prosecutor Mark Gibson did not oppose bail, saying the surgery would be more easily managed outside the prison system.

Mr Kidd warned that the continuing bail was not a sign that the 77-year-old would avoid a prison sentence.

One victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 without ever complaining of the abuse, and even denying to his suspicious mother that he had been molested while he was part of the choir.

Neither boy can be identified.

"I didn't tell anyone at the time because I didn't want to jeopardise anything. I didn't want to rock the boat with my family, my schooling, my life," the other victim told the jurors.

The victim said after the conviction was revealed that he has experienced "shame, loneliness, depression and struggle".

In his statement, the man said it had taken him years to understand the impact the assault had on his life.

Lawyer Lisa Flynn said the father of the second victim, who died at the age of 31, is planning to sue the church or Pell individually once the appeal is resolved.

Pell's lawyer Robert Richter initially wanted details of the trial suppressed until his appeal was heard, but later withdraw the application.

Details of the trial had been suppressed because until Tuesday, Pell had faced a second trial in April on charges that he indecently assaulted two boys aged nine or 10 and 11 or 12 as a young priest in the late 1970s.

Prosecutor Fran Dalziel told the court on Tuesday that those charges had been dropped and asked for the suppression order to be lifted.

Another of Pell's lawyers, Paul Galbally, said Pell continued to maintain his innocence.

"Although the cardinal originally faced allegations from a number of complainants, all of those complaints and allegations save for the matters that are subject to the appeal have all been either withdrawn or discontinued," Mr Galbally told reporters outside

Pell pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of wilfully committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 in late 1996 and early 1997.

Pell did not testify at his trial. But the jury saw a video recording of an interview he gave Australian detectives in Rome in 2016 in which he stridently denied the allegations.

The lifting of the gag order comes after Francis charted a new course for the Catholic Church to confront clergy sexual abuse and cover-up.

Opening a first-ever Vatican summit on preventing abuse, Francis warned 190 bishops and religious superiors last week that their flocks were demanding concrete action, not just words, to punish predator priests and keep children safe.

He offered them 21 proposals to consider going forward, some of them easy to adopt, others requiring new laws.

In October, Francis removed Pell him as a member of his informal cabinet. Pell technically remains prefect of the Vatican's economy ministry, but his five-year term expires this year and is not expected to be renewed.

The "painful" news of Cardinal George Pell's conviction has shocked many people, a Vatican spokesman has said.

However, Alessandro Gisotti said the prelate "has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself" until the last level of justice.

Acting Holy See spokesman Mr Gisotti read a statement to reporters at the Vatican but did not take questions.

He said Pope Francis has confirmed "precautionary measures" already taken against Pell.

These include a ban on his saying Mass in public and "as is the rule, contact in any way or form with minors".

The court verdict represented "painful news that, we are well aware, has shocked very many people, not only in Australia", Mr Gisotti said.

"As we have affirmed on other occasions, we restate the utmost respect for Australian judiciary authorities," he said.

"In the name of this respect, we now await the outcome of the appeals trial, recalling that Cardinal Pell has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself until the final level" of Australia's justice system, the spokesman said.

"While awaiting the definitive judgment, we unite ourselves to the Australian bishops in praying for all the victims of abuse, reiterating our commitment to do everything possible so that the church is a safe home for all, especially for children and the most vulnerable," Mr Gisotti said.
Australian cardinal George Pell is convicted of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral. The verdict has been suppressed by a gag order until now. He is the Catholic Church's most senior official to be convicted of a sexual crime in history.