Cardinal George Pell dies in Rome aged 81

Cardinal George Pell has died, aged 81.

The Prefect Emeritus of the Secretariat for the Economy and Archbishop Emeritus of Sydney died in Rome from complications after hip replacement surgery, EWTN Vatican reports.

Cardinal Pell was acquitted in 2020 after the High Court quashed his convictions for child sexual assault related to allegations he molested two choir boys in the late 1990s when he was Archbishop of Melbourne.

He served 13 months in prison before being released.

Pell and his supporters strongly denied the charges and believe he was used as a scapegoat for all the crimes of the Australian Catholic Church’s botched response to clergy sexual abuse.

Yet victims and critics said Pell epitomised everything wrong with how the church dealt with the sex abuse problem and have denounced his exoneration.

Cardinal Pell returned to the Vatican in early autumn of 2020. Just days ago he was among high-profile mourners who viewed the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI body inside St Peter’s Basilica at The Vatican ahead of the funeral mass.

Cardinal Pell was born in Ballarat in 1941, and ordained a priest in 1966 before studying at Oxford, majoring in church history,

He went on to hold among the highest positions within the Catholic church in Australia.

— with AAP