Cardinal sentenced to six years for child sex abuse

A judge sentenced Australian Catholic Cardinal George Pell on Wednesday to six years in prison for molesting two 13-year-old choir boys in the late 1990s. “In my view, your conduct was permeated by staggering arrogance,” Victoria state Judge Peter Kidd told Pell in court. Pell, the most senior Vatican official convicted of child sexual abuse, must serve a minimum of three years and eight months before he is eligible for parole, according to the judge’s order.

The five convictions against Pell carried a maximum sentence of 10 years each, but Kidd said he considered the cardinal’s lack of any other criminal record and low risk of reoffending in deciding the punishment. He also noted he was sentencing Pell for his individual acts and not the sins of the entire Catholic Church, which has been tainted by a global sexual abuse scandal. “You are not to be made a scapegoat for any failings or perceived failings of the Catholic Church,” Kidd said in court. The 77-year-old Pell denies the allegations and will appeal his convictions in the Victoria Court of Appeal on June 5.