Pell’s 2018 conviction for baby intercourse abuse was later overturned.
Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s highest rating Catholic prelate, died in Rome on Tuesday night on the age of 81.
Pell was essentially the most senior Catholic official to be convicted of kid intercourse abuse, spending 404 days in jail in Australia, earlier than the ruling was overturned in 2020.
The cardinal, who served because the Vatican treasurer from 2014 to 2019, died from coronary heart issues following a hip operation at a Rome hospital, in accordance with the Nationwide Catholic Register.
A memorial service for Cardinal Pell shall be held at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney the place his stays shall be buried, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed.
“For many individuals, notably of the Catholic religion, this shall be a tough day, and I specific my condolences to all those that are mourning immediately,” Albanese mentioned.
A divisive determine in Australia, Pell was considered a formidable, no-nonsense character and was well-known for his outspoken views on conservative and doctrinal issues.
Many individuals on social media have marked his loss of life by expressing their assist for survivors of kid intercourse abuse.
In 2014 Pope Francis appointed Pell to steer the newly established Secretariat for the Financial system to supervise the Vatican’s financial and administrative affairs.
Pell served in that position till 2019 when he was known as again to Australia to face allegations of historic intercourse abuse, costs he denied strenuously, in a high-profile case rocked the Roman Catholic Church worldwide.
He was convicted of these costs and served 13 months in jail earlier than Australia’s Excessive Court docket quashed his conviction in April 2020. He subsequently returned to Rome and was welcomed by Pope Francis.
Born in 1941 in Ballarat within the state of Victoria in southeastern Australia, Pell grew to become a bishop in 1987 and was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003.
He served as Archbishop of Sydney (2001–2014) and Archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001) earlier than taking over the position of Vatican treasurer and initiating a sequence of monetary reforms.
Pell was one of many cardinal electors who participated within the papal conclaves that elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 and Pope Francis in 2013.
Pell’s loss of life in Rome got here simply 5 days after he concelebrated the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on the Vatican.
