Pope Francis parts with two cardinals

Pope Francis has removed two cardinals who are facing sexual abuse accusations from his informal Cabinet, the Vatican announced Wednesday. Francis sent letters to Australian Cardinal George Pell and Chilean Cardinal Javier Errázuriz in October thanking them for their service, said Greg Burke, director of the Vatican press office. Pell, 77, left his role as Vatican financial minister to stand trial in Australia for sex abuse charges. A jury in Melbourne this week found him guilty of abusing two minors in 1996, the Catholic news site Crux reported. Pell denies the charges. Errázuriz, 85, denies accusations from Chilean abuse survivors that he provided cover for abusive priests during his tenure as archbishop of Santiago.

Francis had appointed the cardinals to the Group of Nine, or C-9, in 2013 to help reform Vatican bureaucracy. The pope’s move to reshuffle his Cabinet precedes a three-day summit on abuse scheduled for February.