At the time of his passing at the age of 81, Australian Cardinal George Pell, who served as a former treasurer of the Vatican and was the most senior member of the Catholic clergy to be convicted of child sex abuse before his convictions were overturned, held the distinction of being the most senior member of the Catholic clergy to have been so. According to his private secretary, Pell passed away in Rome on Tuesday night.
After having previously held the positions of archbishop of both Melbourne and Sydney, he rose through the ranks of the Catholic Church to become the third-highest ranking official at the Vatican at one point. Archbishop Peter Comensoli, the current Archbishop of Melbourne, stated that Pell passed away due to complications from heart surgery following hip surgery. In a post on Facebook, he said, “Cardinal Pell was a very prominent and powerful Church leader, both in Australia and abroad, completely dedicated to Christian discipleship.” Pell was convicted of sexually abusing two choir boys in the 1990s and sentenced to thirteen months in jail until his conviction was overturned by the highest court in Australia in the year 2020. Because of the judgment, Pell, who was 78 at the time, was able to go free. In a crisis that rocked the Roman Catholic Church all over the world, he was the most senior member of the church to be accused of previous sexual abuse. This controversy began in 2002.
Pell served as the Minister of the Vatican’s Economy from 2014 until he took a leave of absence in 2017 in order to travel back to Australia and face the allegations of assault there. Since his exoneration, he had been residing in Rome, and during that time, he had many encounters with Pope Francis. This past week, he was present at the burial of Pope Benedict XVI. Even before the allegations of sexual assault were made, Pell was a divisive figure in Australia. He was admired by traditionalists inside the Catholic church, but he was reviled by liberals for his unwavering opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion, and women’s ordination.
