Cardinal George Pell Convicted For Sexually Abusing Two Choir Boys

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s third highest ranking official, has been convicted of child sexual abuse.

According to Daily Beast, Cardinal Pell was convicted by a jury in Australia after a jury deliberated for three days.

The Vatican’s third highest ranking official was found guilty of sexually abusing two choir boys in the late 90s.

Read Also: Pope Removes Cardinal Pell From Inner Circle Over Child Sexual Abuse

It was learned that the presiding judge placed a gag order on the Catholic Church official’s trial to prevent details from being released during the proceedings. The guilty verdict decision was reportedly unanimous.

Cardinal Pell was the finance chief at the Vatican and reportedly left Rome in June 2017 to stand trial in Melbourne, Australia,  where he was accused of sexually abusing the choir boys when he was the archbishop.

Cardinal George Pell. Photo credit: RadaOnline.

Victims of the Catholic Church official were reportedly in the choir at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and were abused by Pell inside the church.

Before now, Pell was originally tried for the charges in June but ended with a hung jury, but prosecutors immediately retried the case.

The Catholic Church official was the highest-ranking Vatican official ever to stand trial for sex abuse.

In 2017, Cardinal Pell’s office gave a statement to The Guardian which said he “repeats his vehement and consistent denials of any and all such accusations.”