Cardinal George Pell of Australia died in Rome on Tuesday. He turned 81. The Australian archbishop has reported this.
Pell was once one of the Vatican’s most powerful men, but was sentenced to six years in prison in 2019 for sexual assault in 1996. He spent more than a year in jail, but was eventually acquitted by Australia’s Supreme Court.
“It is with great sadness that I can confirm that His Eminence Cardinal George Pell died early this morning in Rome,” Australia’s Archbishop Anthony Fisher said in a statement.
Cardinal George Pell has died, aged 81. Pell opposed women’s rights, saying abortion was “a worse moral scandal than priests sexually abusing young people.” He also vilified the LGBT community and protected paedophiles in the #CatholicChurch. Pell was a vicious evil man #religion pic.twitter.com/zBiksMdeQo
— Peter Murphy (@PeterWMurphy1) January 10, 2023