Who was Cardinal George Pell? Know about his child sex abuse controversy and the cause of death

Cardinal George Pell, a former top Vatican official, who was first convicted of child sex abuse but was later acquitted, has died at the age of 81 in Rome. Inside the Vatican, Cardinal George Pell was one of the closest aides of Pope Francis. Back in 2018, a jury in Australia found him guilty of sexually abusing 2 boys in the 1990s while archbishop in Melbourne. He was the first senior church official ever jailed for such a serious offence. However, Cardinal George Pell always maintained he was innocent, stayed in jail for 13 months, but was later freed in 2020 after the high court of Australia declared the previous verdict null and void.

Cardinal Pell latest News- Cause of his death?

Cardinal Pell is believed to have died of heart complications following his hip surgery. He had undergone hip surgery in a Rome hospital on Tuesday. Before he was found guilty of sexual abuse in Australia, he was considered the third most-powerful cleric of the Vatican and Pope Francis’s right hand. Following his acquittal in 2020, Cardinal Pell returned to Rome, where the Vatican City welcomed him with open arms despite the sex scandal.

Cardinal Pell sex abuse controversy

Cardinal Pell was first declared a sex offender in 2018 by a jury in Australia for molesting two boys in the 1990s. However, in 2020, the verdict was quashed by the high court of Australia. However, a civil lawsuit is still underway against Cardinal Pell, which was launched by the father of one of the two alleged victim boys of the sex abuse at the hands of George Pell. Meanwhile, a landmark investigation found that he was aware of child sexual abuse by priests in Australia as early as the 1970s but did nothing. Cardinal Pell denied the accusations till his death and argued that the allegations were not supported by evidence.

Cardinal Pell major achievements and life journey

The cardinal was a divisive figure both in Australia and abroad, as he admitted. Pell, who was born in the regional town of Ballarat in Victoria, rose higher in the Catholic Church than any other Australian before him. Cardinal Pell was Archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney before becoming one of the Pope's closest advisers. In 2014, he was summoned to Rome to clean up the Vatican's finances, and he was frequently referred to as the Church's third-ranking official. In 2020, Pell was quoted by BBC as saying that there was "no doubt" that his "direct" style and traditional approach to issues such as abortion had driven parts of the public against him. He said, "The fact that I defend Christian teachings is irritating to a lot of people."