Cardinal George Pell

Cardinal George Pell (born June 8, 1941, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia—died January 10, 2023, Rome, Italy) was an Australian prelate who served as the Roman Catholic archbishop of Sydney (2001–14) before being named prefect of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy (2014–18). In 2018 he was convicted of historical child sexual assault, but his conviction was overturned two years later. He was one of the most visible figures in the church’s sexual abuse crisis.

Early life and career

A talented Australian rules football player in his youth, Pell signed a contract to play professionally for the Richmond Football Club in 1959, but he soon decided to study for the priesthood instead. He attended a regional seminary, Corpus Christi College, Werribee, before continuing his studies at Propaganda Fide College, Rome. Pell was ordained in 1966 and later earned a Ph.D. in church history (1971) from the University of Oxford as well as a master’s degree in education (1982) from Monash University, Melbourne.

After Pell served as a priest and an administrator in various parishes in Victoria, he became (1985) rector of Corpus Christi College. Two years later he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Melbourne and titular bishop of Scala, Italy, and he held those posts until 1996, when he was named the seventh archbishop of Melbourne. In 2001 he was installed as the eighth archbishop of Sydney.

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Roles as archbishop and cardinal and Vatican appointment

As an archbishop, Pell was often outspoken in his defense of traditional church teachings. He made notable efforts to promote ecumenism and Roman Catholic education, but he also faced strong criticism over his response to cases involving the sexual abuse of children by priests, including an initiative that many observers perceived as an aggressive strategy to limit the church’s liability in such cases. In 2002, after an allegation surfaced that Pell himself had sexually abused a 12-year-old boy four decades earlier, he stepped down from his post for two months until a church-appointed inquiry concluded that there was insufficient evidence to corroborate the allegation.

In 2003 Pell was elevated to cardinal. He participated in both the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI and the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis. Pell’s rising influence in Rome was confirmed when, shortly after Francis’s election, the pope appointed Pell to the Council of Cardinals; that elite council of eight cardinals was charged with the responsibility of advising the pope on financial and governmental matters and of studying ways to reform the Curia, the Roman Catholic Church’s group of central administrative agencies.

In 2014 Francis appointed Pell to head the newly established Secretariat for the Economy, a Vatican office that was given authority over all financial activities of the Holy See and the Vatican City State. The move followed a series of highly publicized scandals involving the Vatican Bank, including the arrest of a senior Vatican accountant on corruption and money-laundering charges. As prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, Pell unveiled plans for a major overhaul of the troubled bank that called for a significant reduction in the size and scope of its operations and the implementation of such measures as regular external audits to ensure financial transparency.

Sexual assault trial

In June 2017 Pell was charged with multiple counts of historical child sexual assault that allegedly had occurred when he was archbishop of Melbourne, making him the highest-ranking Vatican official to face such accusations. He denied the charges but took a leave of absence from the Secretariat for the Economy and later left the post. In 2018 an Australian magistrate ruled that there was sufficient evidence for Pell to stand trial on multiple counts, though a number of the most serious charges were dismissed. In August that year he went on trial, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Three months later a new trial began, and he was found guilty on five charges of historical child sexual offenses. Although the verdict was sealed, Pell was removed from the Council of Cardinals shortly thereafter. In February 2019, after prosecutors opted not to try Pell for other assault allegations, the jury’s decision was publicly announced. In March he was sentenced to six years in prison. However, he was freed in April 2020 after Australia’s highest court overturned his conviction, ruling that the jury “ought to have entertained a doubt” about his guilt.

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