Cardinal Pell’s conviction overturned

The most senior Catholic official found guilty of child sex abuse will leave prison after serving 13 months of a six-year sentence. The Australian High Court dismissed the convictions against Cardinal George Pell on Tuesday.

Why did the court overturn the conviction? The High Court said there was reasonable doubt surrounding the testimony of a key witness. In 2018, a Victoria state jury convicted Pell, Pope Francis’ former finance minister, of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in the 1990s. The High Court found that the Victorian Court of Appeals was wrong in its 2-1 decision to uphold the verdict in August 2019. Pell has maintained he is innocent of the crimes.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Kiley Crossland’s report in Relations about how the Catholic Church has handled the sex abuse crisis.