Cardinal George Pell, the most senior official in the Roman Catholic Church to have been convicted of child sex abuse, has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexual abusing two choirboys in the mid-1990s.
The 77-year-old took indefinite leave from his position as the Vatican’s top financial adviser and one of Pope Francis’s closest aides to fight the charges in 2016.
He was convicted in an Australian court in December. Peter Kidd, chief justice of Victoria’s county court, said on Wednesday that Pell had shown callous indifference to the distress of his 13-year-old victims during “brazen and forceful attacks” on them.
The judge added the crimes had had a significant and lasting impact, and said Pell’s offence was in breach of his position of authority and trust in the community.
One of the victims of the abuse died of a heroin overdose in 2014. The conviction is the latest in a series of sex abuse scandals to engulf the Catholic church, which has in the past regularly moved paedophile priests to different parishes rather than defrocking and referring them to police.
Pell was found guilty on one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 years of age and four counts of committing an indecent act with, or in the presence of a child. The abuse occurred at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996.
He has lodged an appeal against his conviction, which will be heard in June. Pell will not be eligible for parole for at least three years and eight months, a sentence which the judge noted could mean Australia’s most senior churchman will die in prison before his release due to his advanced age and health concerns.
“The brazenness of your conduct is indicative of your sense of authority and power in relation to the victims,” said the judge. “The offending which the jury has found you have engaged in was, on any view, breathtakingly arrogant.” The sentencing hearing was broadcast live, reflecting the huge interest in a case that has sharply divided public opinion.
Pell took indefinite leave from his position as the church’s top financial adviser in 2016 to fight the charges and was removed from the informal cabinet for the Vatican last December.
John Howard, a former Australian prime minister, provided the court with a character reference for Pell while prominent media commentators have openly challenged the jury’s verdict.
Tony Abbott, another former prime minister, has also provided support to Mr Pell and phoned his friend when news of the conviction was made public. “I have no recall of being asked to provide a reference, but just when it comes to the phone call, I’m not a fair-weather friend,” Mr Abbott told Australian radio.
However, during the trial Pell faced daily protests outside the court and victims’ groups have in recent years stepped up their condemnation of how the cardinal dealt with child abuse cases in the past.
The judge condemned some of the behaviour towards Pell during the trial, which he suggested had reflected a witch-hunt or mob mentality. “I utterly condemn that behaviour,” the judge said.
Pell appeared several times at an Australian government-commissioned inquiry into institutional responses to child sex abuse, most recently via video link from Rome.
During that appearance, he denied knowledge about abuse perpetrated by priests in Ballarat, a city in the state of Victoria where Pell was a senior clergyman in the 1970s and 1980s.
He has also denied claims that he had tried to “silence” a victim of abuse. Pell was remanded in custody on February 27 after his bail was revoked.