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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Mattha Busby (now), Kate Lyons and Michael McGowan (earlier)

Cardinal Pell: Vatican waits on appeals process after 'painful' guilty verdict – as it happened

Our Rome correspondent, Angela Giuffrida, has filed this report on events today at the Vatican.

We will now close today’s coverage. Thank you for reading.

Updated

The front pages of tomorrow’s papers in Australia are beginning to come in.

Updated

Kol v’Oz, an organisation set up to prevent child sexual abuse in the Jewish community, has issued a statement welcoming Pell’s conviction, which it said represented “a great day for justice”.

Manny Waks, its chief executive, said:

I welcome today’s public announcement advising of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction of child sexual abuse offences. The conviction sends a powerful message: absolutely no one is above the law.

The courage displayed by Pell’s victim in pursuing this matter must be acknowledged. Holding your abuser to account is always a challenge – in this case even more so, due to Pell’s prominence.

Hopefully, this incredible and positive development will assist us in our ongoing work in addressing the issue of child sexual abuse in our communities – whether in the Catholic Church, the Jewish community, clubs, within the family and elsewhere.

It is important that those impacted by the scourge of child sexual abuse take care of themselves, as times like these are often triggering for many survivors. It is a great day for justice.

Updated

Peter Tranter, the acting vice-chancellor of the University of Notre Dame in Australia, has written to its students to convey that he understands the announcement of the verdict in Pell’s trial will be “deeply distressing” to people whose lives have been impacted by sexual abuse.

However, he restated that Pell has continued to plead his innocence.

Dear All,

You are no doubt aware of the announcement of the verdict handed down by the jury in Cardinal Pell’s trial. I understand that this will be deeply distressing to all within our community and beyond, including those whose lives have been impacted by sexual abuse, and those who know Cardinal Pell.

As has also been reported, Cardinal Pell has maintained his innocence and has lodged an appeal against his conviction – as is his right under Australian law. Given that these matters are currently the subject of judicial process, the university will not be providing any comment.

He also provided links to the university’s support services.

Updated

An interesting point here from Joshua McElwee, the National Catholic Reporter’s Vatican correspondent.

Pell was charged with multiple sexual offences by police in June 2017 when he was the third-ranking official at the Vatican.

CNN’s Delia Gallagher says the Vatican’s statement was “as suspected” and mirrors the position taken by the Catholic church in Australia, which the archbishop of Brisbane delivered earlier.

Updated

Here is the statement from the interim Holy See spokesman in full, courtesy of our correspondent in Italy:

The Holy See is united with what was declared by the president of the Australian Episcopal Conference in taking note of the sentence in the first instance against Cardinal George Pell.

It is painful news that, we are well aware, has shocked many people, not only in Australia. As already stated on other occasions, we reiterate the utmost respect for the Australian judicial authorities.

In this respect, we now await the outcome of the appeal process, recalling that Cardinal Pell has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself to the last degree.

While waiting for the final judgment, we join the Australian bishops in praying for all the victims of abuse, reaffirming our commitment to do everything possible so that the Church is a safe house for everyone, especially for children and the most vulnerable.

To guarantee the course of justice, the Holy Father confirmed the precautionary measures already in place for Cardinal George Pell since he was sent back to Australia [for the trial]. Until the definitive verdict, Cardinal Pell is forbidden, as a precautionary measure, from continuing in his ministry and from having contact with minors in any form.

Updated

We have not heard directly from Pope Francis today, however, his message for this year’s Lent has just been posted on the Vatican’s website.

Updated

To recap, Pell’s sentencing is not until next week, and he may be taken into custody at his plea hearing on Wednesday. His lawyers have said he will appeal against the verdict.

We will bring you reaction from the Vatican’s statement.

The Vatican says it will await the outcome of Pell's appeal

In a statement, the Vatican said the Pope has confirmed Cardinal Pell has been forbidden from contact with minors as part of “precautionary measures” until his appeals have concluded, adding that he must also abstain from public ministry.

This includes a ban on him saying Mass in public and, “as is the rule, contact in any way or form with minors”.

The Vatican spokesman, Alessandro Gisotti, said the news of the conviction was “painful” and the Vatican was aware that his conviction for child abuse has shocked many people around the world.

However, no other measures will be taken against Pell until his appeal proceedings are exhausted, with the spokesman adding that he has “reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself” until the last level of justice.

Gisotti did not take questions after reading the statement to reporters.

Updated

Here’s the latest from Vatican correspondents.

There’s movement at the Vatican, where the interim Holy See spokesman, Alessandro Gisotti, has provided a brief statement in Italian following the George Pell verdict. He said an English translation would be released shortly. You can watch it back below.

Updated

Prof Constant Mews from the Centre for Religious Studies at Monash University gave this interview to the BBC Breakfast show earlier this morning, explaining George Pell’s role within the Catholic church and providing an insight into what might happen next.

The really important thing was that Pope Francis implemented a remarkable series of reforms when he became Pope, and one of them was to create a council of cardinals – an executive, a group of nine – and within that you had George Pell; he was asked to be the first person in charge of the economy, in other words the financial side, and there are others, but it’s a hugely important thing. In December, just a couple of months ago, he was asked to resign from that, and that was perhaps without large fuss, but it was because he was facing a trial and now the reasons for that have become public.

The interviewer Charlie Stayt then asked if Cardinal Pell will be defrocked.

Citing a recent precedent in the case of Cardinal McCarrick, Mews said:

That is the most extreme of the sanctions. I think what is going to happen, there will be certainly a legal review and obviously a final decision on laicisation (defrocking) would be very radical. But I think at the moment there will certainly be a strong call for him to stand aside both as archbishop and as cardinal.

Questioned on whether such a process goes to the heart of the problems, Stayt asked why someone would not be defrocked when they have been found guilty of abusing two choir boys within a cathedral?

The simple phrase that a lawyer would use is that of due process, there is a whole legal review process to which he will certainly claim. But I think there will be very strong pressure, even from the Australian bishops, to distance themselves from a figure who has been tarred, whatever the truth of the accusations, and a jury did find him guilty, [but] he may claim it was a gerrymandered trial. I won’t want to enter into that argument.

The really important issue is that we have now reached a point of no return and, from the side of the Vatican, they have to be seen to distance themselves, certainly from the appearance of any wrongdoing. This has just become an emblem of a much larger problem, which just has to be addressed.

Updated

The Associated Press in Melbourne has filed this report that features evidence heard by the jury that unanimously found George Pell guilty of child sexual abuse.

Cardinal George Pell once blamed his wooden public persona on the self-discipline required to contain ‘a formidable temper’. That anger bubbled through the former Vatican finance minister’s composure as he was interviewed by Australian police in a conference room at the Hilton airport hotel in Rome on 19 October 2016.

DS Chris Reed for the first time detailed to Pell allegations that he had orally raped two choirboys in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral while he was archbishop of Australia’s second-largest city 20 years earlier.

Pell appeared incredulous, distressed and outraged. He grimaced and waved his arms over his head, crossed them tightly across his chest and muttered to himself as the detectives detailed the accusations that one of the alleged victims levelled against him a year earlier.

Updated

A controversial compensation scheme established for victims of clerical sexual abuse by the disgraced cardinal George Pell should be “torn down”, says the mother of two girls abused by a Catholic priest.

Chrissie Foster told the ABC’s 7.30 program that Pell had “no sympathy” for her when she told him about the abuse suffered by her daughter Emma, who had eating disorders and self-harmed as an adult. She later became addicted to drugs and overdosed on medication and died at the age of 26.

When we went to see him about the abuse of Emma… Cardinal Pell, archbishop then, had absolutely no sympathy or understanding or anything. He just was angry and jumping down our throats, telling us to prove it in court.

Now I look at it under this verdict that he’s received, and I think oh my goodness, he had a vested interest in shutting us up because he himself was a paedophile as well.

Everything Pell has installed or implemented on this issue, everything he has said on this issue, needs to be torn down.

The priesthood has harboured criminals like this and that was OK with them. The priesthood must stand condemned for what they have done to children.

Updated

The City of Sydney councillor Jess Scully tells the ABC that she does not believe the Catholic church is taking responsibility for the sins committed by its clergymen.

I was raised Catholic and I’m lapsed. Before you could have reconciliation and forgiveness, you had to recognise you committed a sin. You had to seek atonement and take responsibility. I don’t see that happening at any level in the Catholic church.

For a lot of people Pope Francis seemed like a breath of fresh air. Yet his final comments at the Vatican summit were not a mea culpa. They were pointing the finger at all the other institutions that were also guilty of harbouring abuse.

What we see from the Catholic and Anglican churches is rank hypocrisy. One rule for us and another for you. We’ll decide who you have sex with and we’ll make rules about that but we’ll continue to do appalling things and hide them under the cloak of our faith.

Here is our religious correspondent Harriet Sherwood’s report on the global sexual abuse scandal facing the Vatican, as we await a statement from the Roman Catholic church.

Updated

We reported earlier that columnist Andrew Bolt published an opinion piece in the Herald Sun claiming Pell has been “falsely convicted”.

Bolt has been criticised, with many questioning his agenda.

Updated

Nine News is at the Vatican. The abuse survivor Phil Seviano told the channel that it is “really hard to remain faithful”.

We are expecting a statement from the Vatican shortly.

This is the package Nine News broadcast earlier on Pell’s “remarkable fall from grace”.

Updated

Here’s more from the David Marr interview.

[Pell] made his career from taking the high ground on sex. I wouldn’t actually call it a high ground. The most absolute doctrinaire advocate of Catholic teaching on sex.

Pell was awful about women and homosexuals, contrary to contraception and an eloquent and persistent spruiker for the virtues of clerical celibacy. He made his career from that plus his magical ability to get money out of governments.

He has been convicted and it is just and it has taken time and it is a great commendation of the Australian judicial system but it is still an awful business, that a man can climb so far and fall so far.

Also on the ABC’s The Drum, the writer Sisonke Msimang has called on the Vatican to stop “protecting criminals”.

The Vatican needs to reveal the 6,000 files they are sitting on and talk openly about what they have done and to stop protecting those who have fallen by the wayside, they’re protecting criminals.

There has been this upsurge around the world of survivors and victims speaking openly about concrete measures they need. We are still met with a lot of very strong rhetoric, which is matched by very little action, I think that speaks volumes.

The collision of male power and secrecy, and the way it manifests in the Catholic church, is why we see an out-of-touchness and also why we see this disaster that keeps of unfolding and their complete incapacity to address it.

The Guardian columnist George Monbiot has highlighted how Pell used his position to promote “climate science denial”.

Updated

The ABC’s 7.30 has posted an exchange between Pell and journalist Leigh Sales from a press conference in 2012.

Asked why a fellow priest who had admitted to having abused boys remained within the church for years after, Pell said: “Now I was not present at that interview, this is the subject of an investigation...”

Updated

This is Mattha Busby taking over from my colleague Kate Lyons.

For anyone just waking up in the UK, here is the Guardian’s David Marr’s video explainer on George Pell’s rise and fall.

Speaking to ABC’s The Drum earlier today, he discussed celibacy in the church.

If it wasn’t for celibacy, there would be more priests and it wouldn’t be so hard to fire the ones who are found to have criminal tendencies. We must not forget, out of all this discussion, the Catholic church hasn’t got any priests anymore.

Celibacy is a lie. Priests and brothers have sex. They have always had sex and they will continue to have sex, whatever the rules of celibacy say. The celibate church is marvellously able to hide the failings of their own priests.


Updated

What we know so far

  • Pell was found guilty of sexually penetrating a child under the age of 16 and guilty of four charges of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16. The assaults occurred in December 1996 and early 1997 at St Patrick’s Cathedral, months after Pell was inaugurated as archbishop of Melbourne.

  • The guilty verdict was handed down in December, but was not able to be reported until today, due to a strict suppression order.

  • There was a suppression order because there was due to be a second separate trial against Pell, and there were fears the first trial might prejudice the outcome of the second. That second trial was dropped due to insufficient evidence, causing the judge to lift the suppression order.

  • Pell’s lawyers have said he will appeal the conviction.

  • After the suppression was lifted on Tuesday morning in Australia, the remaining survivor, who cannot be named, said he had experienced “shame, loneliness, depression and struggle” since the attack.

  • The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has said he is “deeply shocked” at Pell’s crimes and while he respects the fact that the case is under appeal “it is the victims and their families I am thinking of today”.

  • The Vatican is expected to issue a statement within the next couple of hours.

Updated

A petition has been launched calling on the Council for the Order of Australia to remove the honours bestowed upon George Pell.

The petition calls for the council to:

  • terminate Cardinal George Pell’s appointment as a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2005; and
  • cancel his award of a Centenary Medal in 2001

The Order of Australia is Australia’s honours system and is the primary way Australia recognises outstanding community members. The Order has four levels, the highest of which is the one bestowed on Pell: a Companion of the Order of Australia.

Updated

We have not received a comment from the Vatican yet – that is expected in the next hour or so. But Pope Francis has been talking about the issue of child sex abuse a great deal during the last week at his summit in Rome.

The Guardian’s religion correspondent Harriet Sherwood has this assessment of what today’s revelations will mean for the pope and the Catholic church.

Pope Francis must have hoped that last week’s unprecedented summit in Rome of senior bishops and church figures from around the world would mark a turning point for his papacy on sexual abuse. The world would see that the Vatican was finally getting a grip on the issue that has caused such grave damage to the church for the past 20 years.

Such hopes have been dealt a devastating blow by the news that Cardinal George Pell, until recently the third most senior figure at the Vatican, is facing a prison term for the sexual abuse of minors in the 1990s.

The Australian’s conviction on criminal charges will have powerful reverberations throughout the global church. It propels the toxic issue of the “abominations” of children – Francis’s own word – directly into the heart of the papacy, where until December the disgraced cardinal had a seat as an influential member of C9, the inner circle of pontifical advisers.

It is likely to herald further haemorrhaging from the pews of Roman Catholic churches by disillusioned and despairing parishioners in the west. And it sends a potent message to the church’s elite that no one is too important or too powerful to escape justice; some will be quaking in fear under their cassocks as Pell is led away to prison.

Updated

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, has commented on the conviction:

I can’t comment on the specific case [because] it’s under appeal. I feel for anyone who’s ever been a victim of clerical assault and abuse … this must bring back a lot of very difficult memories – this is a very difficult time.

It is very clear that a lot of institutional sexual abuse was swept under the carpet and too often priests, rather than being punished, were moved between parishes.

My thoughts are with the victims of clerical sexual abuse. It should never have happened; it’s a gross betrayal of trust.

Updated

In a reminder of how prominent and how well-connected George Pell is in Australian society, here is evidence of yet another former Australian prime minister, this time John Howard, supporting Pell, in the face of serious allegations back in 2002.

This press conference was held shortly after Pell stood aside while he was being investigated by the church over an accusation that he sexually abused a 12-year-old altar boy at a youth camp in 1961 while a seminarian. Pell denied the allegations. The verdict of the retired judge was that the claims were not proven but not dismissed.

In the doorstop interview, Howard said: “I believe completely George Pell’s denial.” He also dismissed calls for a royal commission into institutional sexual abuse of children, saying “we’re not persuaded that that’s going to achieve anything very positive”.

But the final response is the most striking.

Journalist: What did you say to Dr Pell when you spoke to him this afternoon? You expressed your support for him?

Prime minister: Well, I would hardly have rung him to do otherwise.

Updated

The archbishop of Perth, Timothy Costelloe, has released a statement:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Like many other people, both Catholics and others, I am shocked and distressed at the announcement of the guilty verdict handed down by the jury in Cardinal Pell’s trial. I am deeply conscious of the distress this will cause for many, and the sense of justice achieved it will bring to others. I am aware that Cardinal Pell continues to vehemently protest his innocence and has indicated his intention to appeal the verdict. He is fully entitled to do so under Australian law. Until all legal processes have been concluded it would be inappropriate and inflammatory for me to make any further public comments about this matter.

Sexual abuse of children and young people is an abhorrent crime wherever, whenever and by whomever it is perpetrated. As I have done on many other occasions I would again strongly advise anyone who has allegations of child sexual abuse against any officials, clergy or otherwise, connected to the Catholic Church to report these matters to the police. The Catholic Western Australian Office of Professional Standards is able to assist anyone who seeks their assistance to do so.

Updated

Scott Morrison responds to Pell conviction

The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has made a statement about Pell’s conviction. He says he is “deeply shocked” at Pell’s crimes and while he respects the fact that the case is under appeal “it is the victims and their families I am thinking of today”.

“While due process continues, our justice system has affirmed no Australian is above the law. As a country, we must continue to do everything possible to stamp out child abuse in all of its forms, wherever it takes place.”

Updated

How has Pell responded to child sexual abuse in the church?

Pell has attracted criticism since the 1990s for the way he has responded to allegations of child sexual abuse while he was working in Australian Catholic institutions.

In 2014 he said the church was no more responsible for child abuse carried out by church figures than a trucking company would be if it employed a truck driver who picked up a female hitchhiker and raped her.

At Australia’s child sexual abuse royal commission, he described offending by his one-time friend, the priest Gerald Ridsdale, as a “sad story” that “wasn’t of much interest to me”. Ridsdale has been found guilty of offending against more than 60 children.

Pell was not named as an alleged perpetrator at the royal commission. When he was called to give evidence it was only in relation to his knowledge of others’ conduct, and the question of whether he was present when church leaders decided to move offending priests between parishes.

When the global wave of abuse allegations reached Pell in June 2017, some of the country’s most powerful people stood by him, including former conservative prime minister Tony Abbott, himself a devout Catholic, who told a newspaper “the George Pell I have known is a very fine man indeed”.

Pell’s successor as archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, also told media at the time that “the George Pell I know is a man of integrity in his dealings with others, a man of faith and high ideals, a thoroughly decent man”.

Abbott and Fisher did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters after the verdict was made public.

Updated

This is Kate Lyons taking over from my colleague Michael McGowan.

People have been resurfacing tweets about George Pell that have not aged well. Among them is this tweet from Rupert Murdoch, who was, at least at one time, a vocal supporter of Pell.

Updated

With the UK and Europe waking up, it feels like an opportune time to go over what has happened here today.

Cardinal George Pell, once the third most powerful man in the Vatican and Australia’s most senior Catholic, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old boys in Melbourne in the mid 1990s.

Pell was found guilty of sexually penetrating a child under the age of 16 and guilty of four charges of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16. The assaults occurred in December 1996 and early 1997 at St Patrick’s Cathedral, months after Pell was inaugurated as archbishop of Melbourne.

There were two trials. The first, last August, ended in a hung jury. The second, which began in November and lasted four and a half weeks, resulted in a guilty verdict after three and a half days of deliberation by the jury.

Although the verdict was delivered back in December, the case has been the subject of a strict suppression order until now. Pell’s lawyers have said he will appeal the conviction.

After the suppression was lifted on Tuesday morning in Australia, the remaining survivor, who cannot be named, said he had experienced “shame, loneliness, depression and struggle” since the attack.

“Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life,” he said.

“At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust. I would like to thank my family near and far for their support of me, and of each other.”

The Vatican is expected to issue a statement within the next couple of hours.

Updated

We’re coming up to 7am in the Vatican, and expect a statement from them in about two hours.

In the meantime, our Rome correspondent Angela Giuffrida spoke to Alberto Melloni, a church historian and professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia about the significance of the Pell decision for the church more broadly. He had this to say:

The Holy See took its position on the Pell case when it sent him back to Australia for the trial. It doesn’t surprise me [that it had ended with a conviction] … The church recognised the civil jurisdiction of the case and it’s a good example of what the church can do. With civil justice there are no questions asked about whether a sentence is severe enough, whereas in the ecclesiastical tribunal system there are.

It’s good for the church to come out of this illusion that the ecclesiastical justice system is better than the civil system.

The point is that the Pell case shows that when you trust civil judgement you do the best, but when you try to [judge a case] in the ecclesiastical system it is always too little too late.

The Pell case is very instructive for the Catholic church because at least it gives the sense there is no cover-up and no attempts to escape from justice – that is very much needed for the dignity of the victim and the Catholic church.

Updated

In case you missed it, the victim at the centre of Cardinal Pell’s conviction released a statement after the suppression order was lifted this morning.

Seems Andrew Bolt couldn’t wait until tonight. He’s published an opinion piece in the Herald Sun claiming Pell has been “falsely convicted”.

He says his opinion is based on “overwhelming evidence” and “on how many times Pell has been accused of crimes and sins he clearly did not do”.

“But at last some of the truckload of mud thrown at him has stuck. It adds up to this: Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, has been made to pay for the sins of his church and a media campaign of vilification,” Bolt writes.

“He is a scapegoat, not a child abuser. In my opinion.”

The jury disagreed, clearly. Bolt has long been a supporter of Pell, penning a number of columns in his defence over the years.

However, after the cardinal’s evidence about his knowledge of another paedophile priest before the royal commission into child abuse in 2016, Bolt wrote Pell was either “lying” or “curiously indifferent” to abuse around him. He later retracted the criticism.

Updated

The lifting of the suppression order means investigative journalist Louise Milligan’s 2017 Walkley award-winning book, Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell, can again be sold. The book had to be withheld from sale until the suppression orders were lifted.

Milligan’s notes were originally subpoenaed by Pell’s lawyers as part of his defence in the case.

“I was motivated to write this book because I wanted people to know what I have known about George Pell,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We have been waiting for the justice system to run its course. Nothing can undo what has been done but some justice has prevailed.”

Updated

Some detail on the process behind stripping someone of the Order of Australia.

Another blow.

Senators call for Pell to be stripped of Australian honours

Senators Derryn Hinch and Sarah Hanson-Young are calling for the cardinal to be stripped of his Companion of the Order of Australia. There’s precedent for that, as Hinch notes. In 2015 Rolf Harris was stripped of the honour after he was convicted of several counts of indecently assaulting underage girls.

Hinch said it’s “good news that Pell will do jail time”, calling him a “hypocrite”, but said he was disappointed the second case against the cardinal would no longer go ahead.

“The sheer effrontery that he could abuse choir boys in a place of worship as the new archbishop of Melbourne,” he said.

“Pell must now be stripped of his Companion of the Order of Australia a la Rolf Harris.”

Updated

That relative quiet is interesting, when you consider members of the government have, in the past, been rather complimentary of Pell.

“Cardinal Pell is one of the greatest churchmen that Australia has seen,” Tony Abbott said in 2004.

Updated

The minister for families and social services, Paul Fletcher, has released this statement. As far as I can tell, it’s the first we’ve heard from the Morrison government today.

The news that someone of George Pell’s seniority within the Catholic Church has been convicted of these crimes is deeply disturbing. My first thoughts, however, are with the survivors who showed genuine courage to come forward.

Nothing will ever make things right for those victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, however, the National Redress Scheme is intended to go some way towards acknowledging their suffering and providing support moving forward.

We are focussed on continuing to deliver the National Redress Scheme and progressing claims as quickly and sensitively as possible.

Updated

As I mentioned earlier, our reporter Melissa Davey was in both of the Pell trials from the beginning. This is her (excellent, gripping) account from inside the courtroom.

The father of one of the boys whom Pell was convicted of sexually assaulting says he will sue the cardinal or the Catholic church following the death of his son.

Pell’s conviction was for the sexual assault of two 13-year-old boys in 1996 and 1997. The court heard evidence from one of the victims during the trial but the second, who never told his parents about the abuse, died in 2014 of a heroin overdose when he was 30.

On Tuesday, Lisa Flynn, the head of specialist personal injury at Shine Lawyers, said the firm was representing the boy’s father.

“Shine Lawyers represent a client whose son suffered such extreme depression that he overdosed on drugs to numb his severe PTSD as a result of his pain,” she said.

“His father will allege that Pell has blood on his hands. This conviction is a reminder to survivors of abuse to feel empowered to tell their stories. Justice has prevailed and the nation is finally listening and addressing your pain.”

Updated

Pell's old school strips his name from building

George Pell’s old school will remove his name from a building named in his honour, and strike a line through his name on its honour board.

St Patrick’s College, Ballarat, where Pell attended from 1949 to 1959, said on Tuesday that in the wake of the cardinal’s conviction, it would also revoke his status as an “inducted legend of the school”.

The school’s headmaster, John Crowley, said he “acknowledged Cardinal Pell may appeal the verdict, but as it currently stands, the college must respond to the jury’s findings”.

“The jury’s verdict demonstrates that Cardinal Pell’s behaviours have not met the standards we expect of those we honour as role models for the young men we educate,” Crowley said.

“The college aims at every opportunity to fulfil our mission of raising fine boys to the status of great men. The college also remains ever mindful of the victims and survivors who require our ongoing care, solidarity and support.”

The building that was formerly known as the Pell Wing, will be renamed the Waterford Wing.

Crowley said the college reserved the right to revisit the decision if Pell’s appeal of the conviction was successful.

Updated

The shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, was asked about the Pell verdict at a press conference earlier. This is what he said:

Every Australian, every single Australian is subject to the rule of law – whether you’re a cardinal, or a politician, or a leader of business. Every single Australian is subject to the rule of law. And this will be a difficult day for victims of sex abuse, not just in the Catholic church but in any institution. But I’m sure victims of sexual abuse will want to see the justice system working without fear or favour, without fear or favour. Any Australian no matter how famous or prominent is subject to law and that is what we’re seeing played out today.

Updated

The chief executive of Catholic Social Services Australia, Frank Brennan, another Pell supporter who sat through the trial, has written in Jesuit publication Eureka Street that he was “surprised” and “devastated” by the guilty verdict.

My only conclusion is that the jury must have disregarded many of the criticisms so tellingly made by [Pell’s lawyer Robert] Richter of the complainant’s evidence and that, despite the complainant being confused about all manner of things, the jury must nevertheless have thought – as the recent royal commission discussed – that children who are sexually violated do not always remember details of time, place, dress and posture.

Although the complainant got all sorts of facts wrong, the jury must have believed that Pell did something dreadful to him. The jurors must have judged the complainant to be honest and reliable even though many of the details he gave were improbable if not impossible.

Updated

Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt, one of Pell’s staunchest defenders, clearly hasn’t changed his mind about the cardinal in the wake of his guilty verdict.

Updated

Speaking of Mark Coleridge, the Brisbane archbishop delivered a homily in Rome on Sunday at the end of a Vatican summit on the protection of minors, in which he said the Australian church had been “weak” in providing pastoral care for survivors of clerical sexual abuse:

We will not go unpunished. In abuse and its concealment, the powerful [of the church] show themselves not men of heaven but men of Earth.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Coleridge added:

It’s very clear now ... that anyone in the Catholic church in any part of the world who thinks that he or she can get away with sexual abuse of the young and vulnerable, has absolutely nowhere to go.

Updated

It’s been two and a half hours since the news of Pell’s conviction was made public. I could be mistaken, but I think this may be the first Australian federal politician to say anything about it.

Updated

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference 'shocked' by Pell conviction.

We have a statement now too from Mark Coleridge, the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. He says Pell’s conviction has “shocked” people around the world:

The news of Cardinal George Pell’s conviction on historical child sexual abuse charges has shocked many across Australia and around the world, including the Catholic Bishops of Australia.

The Bishops agree that everyone should be equal under the law, and we respect the Australian legal system. The same legal system that delivered the verdict will consider the appeal that the Cardinal’s legal team has lodged.

Our hope, at all times, is that through this process, justice will be served. In the meantime, we pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones, and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable.

Updated

The archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, has released a statement, saying he is “surprised and shaken” by Pell’s conviction:

As is now publicly known, Cardinal George Pell has been found guilty of historical sexual crimes relating to two young people at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne. This follows two trials, the first of which could not reach a verdict.

While acknowledging the judgement of the jury, I join many people who have been surprised and shaken by the outcome of this second trial.

I fully respect the ongoing judicial process, noting that Cardinal Pell continues to protest his innocence. An appeal against the verdict has been lodged. It is important we now await the outcome of this appeal, respectful of the ongoing legal proceedings.

All other charges relating to Cardinal Pell, except those subject of the appeal, have been discontinued.

My thoughts and prayers are with all victims who have been abused by clergy, religious and lay people in the Archdiocese of Melbourne at this challenging time, and I renew my personal commitment to do all I can to ensure victims of such abuse in Melbourne receive justice and healing.

At this time, I also acknowledge all in the Catholic Church who are walking with survivors and communities harmed by the scourge of abuse, and who are committed to building a culture of safety for our children and vulnerable people.

At this time, may I assure you that I keep all involved in my prayer.

Updated

The president of child abuse advocacy group the Blue Knot Foundation, Dr Cathy Kezelman AM, has released a statement, calling Pell’s case “accountability much delayed”:

As a result, many survivors harmed within the church and some additional survivors harmed by or under the responsibility of Cardinal Pell were denied their rights to witness this justice process.

This news comes just after the Vatican Summit has ended. The themes were accountability, responsibility and transparency. Many survivors were left underwhelmed by this summit, with a sense of more talk and defensiveness with nothing concrete achieved.

For too long, hermetically sealed systems of power, such as within the Catholic Church have called the shots, protecting the Church and themselves. They have taken no responsibility and ducked accountability. They have failed to produce records, even destroying them, or obfuscating them with half or non-truths. There has been zero transparency.

Is this really a time of change within the Church? A change in leadership, hierarchy and culture? It needs to be a time for zero tolerance to abuse, not zero transparency.

Cardinal Pell, like everyone, deserved a fair trial. He received it and was found guilty. Survivors also deserve a fair playing field. The crimes perpetrated against them have already violated them. To date, within the Catholic Church, it has been anything but fair, just, humane or moral.

Updated

Quite a bit to keep up with this morning. If you’re playing catch-up, Melissa Davey has prepared this explainer about who George Pell is and what he’s been found guilty of.

Updated

A grumpy Jon Faine complained on ABC Melbourne radio earlier that he hasn’t been able to speak to author and journalist Louise Milligan about the Pell verdict today.

Faine said the ABC had decided to quarantine the star reporter from appearances on other ABC shows today because she has been limited to an appearance on 730 tonight. Milligan has also made a special inside story on the case for Four Corners on Monday.

Updated

Outside court this morning, a victim of child sexual abuse by another member of the Catholic church told the media it was “a miracle” Pell had been convicted.

“Pell should be excommunicated,” the man, who identified himself only as Michael, said. “I want to see Pell in jail. I want to see the Catholics actually properly compensate their victims, not use all their lawyers to delay everything that they do.”

Michael said he was abused 40 years ago in Victoria and urged his fellow Catholics to “vote with your feet” and “walk out of the church”.

He said he hoped Pell would never be released.

“Pell should never be released because the responsibility that he has to every Catholic in Victoria is enormous. If Pell would have been a leader like he was supposed to be ... we would not have had any of these problems.”

Updated

Quite stark.

Pell was originally due to be sentenced on Wednesday, but we now understand that won’t happen until next week. However, he may be taken into custody at a plea hearing on Wednesday.

Updated

George Pell releases statement

Pell has released a statement through his solicitor, Paul Galbally:

Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so.

An appeal has been lodged against his conviction and he will await the outcome of the appeal process.

Although originally the Cardinal faced allegations from a number of complainants, all charges except for those the subject of the appeal have now been either withdrawn, discharged or discontinued. He will not be commenting in the meantime.

Updated

Australian media outlets have been unable to report that the country’s most senior Catholic had been convicted of child sexual abuse until now because of a suppression order on the case.

But, as this story from Amanda Meade explains, dozens of journalists have been threatened with a charge of contempt of court – and could face possible jail terms.

What happened in court this morning

The chief justice, Peter Kidd, lifted the suppression order just before 11am this morning, after about an hour of argument and two quick breaks. Here is what happened.

First, the Department of Public Prosecutions said it would discontinue its prosecution of the second trial, known as the Ballarat or swimmers trial, and that therefore the suppression order, which was in place to ensure that the second trial was not prejudiced, could be lifted.

Robert Richter QC, lawyer for Pell, applied for the suppression order to be extended on the grounds that he had filed appeal documents on 21 February. The grounds of the appeal, he said, posed a real possibility that the conviction would be overturned and the trial would have to be reheard. If the suppression order lifted before a possible retrial, he said, there would be an “irrevocable and incurable injustice”, or at the very least an irrevocable appearance of injustice.

Kidd said he was required by law to consider that the jury’s verdict of guilty was “good” and could not consider extending a suppression order on a supposition that a retrial might be called at some point in the future. He said he had no grounds to extend the order, and there was a strong public interest in the media being able to cover the sentencing hearing.

At any event, he said, a retrial where the outcome of the original trial is public knowledge was not an unusual occurrence. It would put Pell on a level playing field with most convicted people in the country.

But Kidd said he was prepared to give Richter time to go across Lonsdale Street to the court of appeal and apply for a suppression order in that court. He originally proposed giving the defence until 4pm on Monday to make that application, but was persuaded by the prosecution and a lawyer representing media agencies that that was too long. He then proposed giving the defence until 4pm on Thursday.

Kidd said that regardless of the likelihood of the appeal succeeding, which he would not comment on, the defence was entitled to the opportunity to make an application to the other court. He said that opportunity had to be given before the county court suppression order was lifted, adding that “if ever there was a case where the milk is spilled, it is this case”.

While Kidd went into his chambers to write his orders, Richter’s team changed their mind and withdrew their opposition to the suppression orders being lifted.

Updated

Pell will face jail when he’s sentenced, now likely to be next week.

David Marr: What a country that can do this: the first in the world to hold a national inquiry into this scandal and the first to send a cardinal to prison. He’s going in. His barrister, Robert Richter, told the court this morning: “We accept a custodial sentence is inevitable.”

Updated

Pell’s barrister, Robert Richter QC, filed an appeal against the conviction on 21 February. That could take some time to play out, but the appeal is based on the following grounds:

  1. The verdict of the jury was unreasonable, in contrary to the evidence before them
  2. It was not right that the defence were not allowed to present jurors with a digital animation they intended to screen during their closing address
  3. The way the jury was constituted was unfair

Updated

Victim of Pell child sexual assault releases statement

Pell was found guilty of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old boys in 1996 and 1997. One of the victims has since died. The other, a man now in his 30s who cannot be named, has released this statement today:

Thank you for your interest in this case.

Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life.

At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust. I would like to thank my family near and far for their support of me, and of each other.

I am witness in a case brought by the state of Victoria. I have put my trust in the police and the criminal justice system. The process has been stressful and it is not over yet.

I need space and time to cope with the ongoing criminal process. I understand this is a big news story but please don’t reveal my identity.

I ask that the media respect my privacy. I don’t want to give any interviews. Please don’t come to my home. I want to protect my young family and my parents. I don’t want them swept into the spotlight.

I am not a spokesperson about child sexual abuse. There are many other survivors and advocates who bravely fill this role.

I am just a regular guy working to support and protect my family as best I can. Thank you for your support and understanding.

Updated

George Pell has just left the courtroom. People shouted at him as he made his way through the police escort.

Updated

The scene outside the county court in Melbourne this morning, before the suppression order on Pell’s conviction was lifted. David Marr was there. He tells me Pell entered the court looking “chipper” but “left blank”.

“He had to go out with the press,” Marr tells me.

Our reporter Melissa Davey was in the court throughout both Pell trials. The first, which ran for five weeks, ended in a hung jury and led to a retrial. The second, which lasted four and a half weeks, resulted in a guilty verdict after three and a half days of deliberation by the jury. Here is her report.

Updated

Pell found guilty, suppression order lifted

Cardinal George Pell, once the third most powerful man in the Vatican in Rome and Australia’s most senior Catholic, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old boys in Melbourne in the mid 1990s.

Pell was found guilty of sexually penetrating a child under the age of 16 and guilty of four charges of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16. The assaults occurred in December 1996 and early 1997 at St Patrick’s Cathedral, months after Pell was inaugurated as archbishop of Melbourne.

The jurors delivered their verdict on 11 December after three and a half days of deliberating at Melbourne’s county court and following a four-and-a-half-week trial which began on 7 November. A previous trial on the charges, which began in August, resulted in a hung jury and the retrial. Neither trial has been able to be reported until now owing to strict suppression orders imposed by the court and lifted today.

Stay with us as we cover the reaction to the verdict and the likely next steps.

Updated

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