Former Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell has been remanded in custody after being found guilty of sexual offences against children in Australia.
The cardinal is the most senior Catholic figure ever convicted of sexual abuse.
He maintains he is innocent and has lodged an appeal.
Cardinal George Pell, returned to the Melbourne court on Wednesday for a sentence plea hearing. A group of protesters had already gathered, heckling and abusing the disgraced cleric.
Cardinal Pell was in December found guilty of five charges of child sexual offences committed in 1996.
Pell denies the allegations and lawyers have lodged an appeal, which if successful could lead to a retrial.
The verdict was made public on Tuesday after prosecutors dropped a second abuse case against Pell.
On Wednesday Cardinal Pell’s lawyer, Robert Richter QC,submitted 10 character references for the cardinal, including from former Australian Prime Minister John Howard. However, prosecutors argued that Pell’s “serious offending” warranted significant jail time. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail
Judge Peter Kidd revoked the bail terms that Pell had been on during his trial, ordering he be remanded in prison for the first time, pending sentencing on March 13.
He called the 1996 abuses “callous” and “brazen.
Pell was archbishop of Melbourne when he abused two 13-year-old boys in a cathedral following a mass.
Prosecutors said he told them they were in trouble for drinking communion wine, and forced each boy into indecent acts. He abused one of the boys again in 1997.The court heard testimony from one of the victims. The other died of a drug overdose in 2014.
The Australian cleric rose in prominence as a strong supporter of traditional Catholic values, often taking conservative views and advocating for priestly celibacy. As Pope Francis’s close adviser, he spent five years overseeing the Vatican’s finances.
But his career has been dogged, first by claims that he covered up child sexual abuse by priests, and then later that he was himself an abuser.
The Catholic church is facing a growing child sexual abuse crisis, following scandals in the United States, Chile, Germany and Australia.
