Vatican chief financial adviser takes leave of absence after being charged with historical sexual assault offences

Top Vatican Cardinal George Pell has said he will take a leave of absence, but will not resign as he vowed to "clear" his name over multiple counts of historical sexual assault offences. The 76-year-old priest, who is a top adviser to the Pope on financial matters and Australia’s most senior clergyman, was charged on Thursday by Victoria Police over “historical sexual assault offences.”

Pell has long denied any involvement in the sexual abuse of children, which Australian media has reported allegedly occurred from the 1970s to 1990s. Victoria state police summoned Pell, 76, to appear in Australian court in July to face what they are calling “historical sexual assault offenses.”

Pell, who serves as Pope Francis’ chief financial adviser, denied the allegations in an appearance before reporters on Thursday, and said that the “matters have been under investigation now for two years.”

“There have been leaks to the media,” he said. Victoria Police has confirmed Cardinal Pell, has been charged on summons over multiple allegations against multiple victims and is due to face Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 18 for a filing hearing. A statement issued by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney reiterated that Pell has “strenuously denied all allegations.”

“Cardinal Pell will return to Australia, as soon as possible, to clear his name following advice and approval by his doctors who will also advise on his travel arrangements,” said the statement. “For clarity, I want to be perfectly clear, the process and procedures that are being followed in the charging of Cardinal Pell have been the same that have been applied in a whole range of historical sex offences whenever we investigate them.”

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“Cardinal Pell, like any other defendant, has a right to due process and so therefore it is important that the process is allowed to run its natural course,” said Patton. Australia’s years-long Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse — the nation’s highest form of inquiry — has found shocking levels of abuse in Australia’s Catholic Church, revealing earlier this year that 7 percent of Catholic priests were accused of sexually abusing children over the past several decades.
Victoria Police charge Cardinal George Pell, the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, and the third most senior official of the Catholic Church, with historic child sex offences. Pell will be required to attend hearings at the Melbourne Magistrates Court in Australia on July 19.