NEW YORK (NY)]
The New York Times
February 25, 2019
By Livia Albeck-Ripka and Damien Cave
A version of this article was published in print editions on Dec. 14, 2018, but not online, to comply with a suppression order imposed by a judge in Australia, where The Times has a bureau. On Tuesday, Feb. 26, in Australia, the suppression order was rescinded after a second trial was canceled. All the dates below refer to the original December publication date.
MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian cardinal who was once an adviser to Pope Francis has been convicted of molesting choir boys more than 20 years ago, making him the highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader ever found guilty of sexual abuse.
The unanimous jury verdict against the cardinal, George Pell, 77, was delivered Tuesday in the County Court of Victoria, where a suppression order has prevented media outlets from sharing any information about the case that could be accessed in Australia.
Cardinal Pell’s case was especially significant because he occupied the highest levels of the church hierarchy. He had been tapped by Francis to reform the Vatican’s finances after leading the church’s response to sexual abuse allegations against priests in Australia.
While Catholic bishops have been convicted before in cover-ups of child sexual abuse, this is the first time that a bishop has been convicted of perpetrating such abuse, according to Ann Barrett Doyle, co-director of Bishopaccountability.org, a research and advocacy group. More than 60 bishops have been accused of sexually abusing minors, she said.
Cardinal Pell, who returned voluntarily from the Vatican in July of 2017, was charged with five offenses said to have occurred in December of 1996 during his time as the newly appointed Archbishop of Melbourne.
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