Enlarge image
George Pell (May 2018 in Melbourne)
Photo:
Michael Dodge/Getty Images
George Pell, the Vatican's former chief financial officer, is dead, his private secretary confirmed to Reuters news agency.
The Archbishop of Sydney also reported the death.
Pell died in Rome.
He was 81 years old.
The Australian cardinal has held high office for decades.
In 2014, Pope Francis appointed him chief financial officer of the Vatican;
he held the post until February 2019.
This put Pell third in the hierarchy of the Papal States.
He was also one of the Pope's closest advisors.
Pell was the highest-ranking minister in the history of the Catholic Church to be convicted of sexual abuse: In spring 2019, a court sentenced Pell to six years in prison for sexually abusing a minor.
He spent 13 months in prison.
In April 2020, the case took a surprising turn: Australia's Supreme Court granted Pell's appeal – and he was released.
At the end of September he returned to Rome.
There he lived until his death.
Pell has consistently denied all allegations.
He was originally found guilty of exposing himself to two boys in a sacristy in 1996, touching them indecently and forcing one of them to perform oral sex.
At that time, Pell was archbishop of the Australian metropolis of Melbourne.
When another court then acquitted him, it followed the arguments of the defense: they had pointed out weaknesses in witness statements.
Pell was born in Ballarat, Australia in 1941 and grew up in the city north-west of Melbourne.
He was ordained a priest in 1966 and a bishop in 1987.
From 1996 he was Archbishop of Melbourne, in the same year he founded the "Melbourne Response" to clarify allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church.
In 2001, Pell was appointed Archbishop of Sydney.
aar/Reuters