MELBOURNE, Australia — The most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex abuse was sentenced in an Australian court on Wednesday to six years in prison for molesting two choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral more than 20 years ago. Victoria state County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd ordered Cardinal George Pell to serve a minimum of 3 years and 8 months before he is eligible for parole. It was the first time a cardinal had been defrocked over the child abuse scandal. The task force also investigates allegations made to a similar national inquiry, called the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Pell voluntarily returned to Australia in 2017 to face an array of child abuse charges, most of which have since been dropped.

Source: National Post March 13, 2019 00:45 UTC