Cardinal George Pell will be allowed a final chance to challenge his child sexual abuse convictions, Australia’s top court has ruled.<\/p>\n
Pell was granted leave to appeal the verdict in the High Court of Australia.<\/p>\n
The ex-Vatican treasurer, 78, is currently serving a six-year jail term for abusing two boys in a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
He lost his first challenge against his convictions in August and has consistently maintained his innocence.<\/p>\n
Pell is the most high-ranking Catholic official in the world to be convicted of child sexual abuse.<\/p>\n
Last December, a jury unanimously found him guilty of sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys in St Patrick’s Cathedral, when he was the city’s archbishop.<\/p>\n
The convictions include one count of sexual penetration and four counts of committing indecent acts.<\/p>\n
Pell unsuccessfully challenged the verdict in Victoria’s Court of Appeal in August, when a panel of three judges ruled against him 2-1.<\/p>\n
They rejected the cleric’s argument that the jury’s verdict had been unfair and had relied unreasonably on the testimony of one victim.<\/p>\n
Pell will now argue the judges erred in their decision on those grounds.<\/p>\n
The High Court of Australia is most likely to hear the appeal next year, local media media reported.<\/p>\n
Pell’s case has rocked the Catholic Church and he was demoted from the Pope’s inner circle last year.<\/p>\n
The Vatican has faced calls for Pell to be defrocked, but it has said the cleric has the right to pursue all legal appeals.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"