Australia Catholic Cardinal George Pell, on leave from his role as Vatican treasurer, has been found guilty of sexual offences against two 13-year-old boys in the mid-1990s.
Pell has been found guilty of one charge of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16 and of four charges of an indecent act with, or in the presence of, a child under the age of 16. He had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The assaults occurred in late 1996 and early 1997 at St Patrick’s Cathedral, when Pell was Archbishop of Melbourne.
The verdict, which had been handed down in Melbourne’s County Court on 11th December following a trial, was made public on Tuesday after a court suppression order on the case was lifted.
Pell, who has been on bail since the verdict, is expected to be sentenced shortly.
