ROME
NBC News
by CLAUDIO LAVANGA and ALASTAIR JAMIESON
ROME — Pope Francis’ top financial adviser Cardinal George Pell was charged Thursday with multiple sex crimes — becoming the highest-ranking Vatican official to be charged with abuse.
The 76-year-old faces “multiple charges in respect of historic sexual offences” from multiple complainants, said police in the Australian state of Victoria, where Pell was a country priest in the 1970s.
Cardinal Pell, the Vatican’s de facto treasury minister, told reporters he had been granted leave of absence to face the allegations.
“I am looking forward finally to having my day in court,” he said. “I repeat that I am innocent of these charges. They are false. The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me.”
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