A senior catholic official has been found guilty of Child abuse.
Cardinal George Pell, was found guilty on five charges of child abuse that he committed more than two decades ago against 13-year-old boys.
The verdict was made public today following the lifting of a suppression order on the case.
Pell becomes the most senior Catholic clergyman worldwide to be convicted for child sex offences.
He was convicted of five sexual offences committed against the 13-year-old choir boys 22 years earlier in the priests’ sacristy of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, where Pell was archbishop.
Sentencing is expected in the first week of March.
Pell took leave from his Vatican finance role to fight the charges but he still officially held that job through his trial.
Some victims’ advocates say the conviction of so high profile a figure could encourage other survivors of clerical abuse to speak out.