The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted of molesting two choirboys.
Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s highest ranking clergyman in the Catholic Church, was late last year found guilty of sexually abusing the boys.
The decision could not be reported until a ban on it was lifted on Tuesday.
A 12-member jury delivered unanimous verdicts against Pell in the Victoria state County Court on December 11 after more than two days of deliberation.
The convictions were confirmed the same week that Pope Francis concluded his extraordinary summit of Catholic leaders summoned to Rome for a tutorial on preventing clergy sexual abuse and protecting children from predator priests.
The jury convicted Pell of abusing two 13-year-old boys whom he had caught drinking sacramental wine in a rear room of Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral in late 1996, as hundreds of worshippers were leaving Sunday services.
Pell, now 77 but 55 at the time, had just been named the most senior Catholic in Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne.
The jury also found Pell guilty of indecently assaulting one of the boys in a corridor more than a month later.
He faces a potential maximum 50-year prison term after a sentencing hearing that begins on Wednesday.
Pell said he would appeal the decision
He had maintained his innocence throughout, describing the accusations as "vile and disgusting conduct" that went against everything he believed in.
Agencies contributed to this report
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