Cardinal George Pell becomes most senior Catholic to be convicted of sexual offences against children

He’s the most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse. Cardinal George Pell is economy minister to Pope Francis, the third most powerful man in the Vatican.

A court in Australia has convicted him of sexually abusing two choirboys in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996.

But the Vatican has said it must await the outcome of the appeals process before deciding whether to remove him from the College of Cardinals.