AUSTRALIA
Herald-Whig
By The Associated Press
Posted: Jun. 29, 2017
Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ chief financial adviser, has been charged in his native Australia with multiple counts of “historical” sexual abuse, becoming the highest-ranking Vatican official ever charged in the church’s long-running sexual abuse scandal. A look at the key events in Pell’s life:
1941: George Pell is born in Ballarat, in the Australian state of Victoria.
1966: Pell is ordained a priest for the Ballarat diocese in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
1987: Pell is ordained an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
1996: Pell is appointed Archbishop of Melbourne and later sets up a compensation program for church sex abuse victims that some victims later criticize as inadequate, intimidating and a deterrent to lawsuits.
2001: Pell is appointed the Archbishop of Sydney.
2002: Pell steps down as Sydney Archbishop in response to allegations he sexually abused a boy more than 40 years earlier. Pell emphatically denies the allegation. An inquiry finds there is no way to establish the allegation, citing lack of evidence and questions about the accuser’s credibility. Pell is reinstated.
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