Australian Cardinal George Pell died at the age of 81, Tuesday night in Rome.
The cause of the Cardinal’s death was a heart complication following the hip surgery, Archbishop Peter Comensoli confirmed.
“Cardinal Pell was a very significant and influential Church leader, both in Australia and internationally, deeply committed to Christian discipleship,” Archbishop Peter Comensoli, the incumbent archbishop of Melbourne said.
It can be remembered that back then, he was the third-highest-ranked Catholic in the Vatican after he served as archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney.
Cardinal Pell was the former treasurer of the Vatican and was known to be sentenced to child sex abuse but later on abolished by Australia’s highest court in 2020.
He spent 13 months in prison for the conviction of sexually assaulting two choir boys in the year 1990s.
His conviction become historical since he was considered the most senior member of the church.
This scandal shook the Roman Catholic Church worldwide.
The cardinal lived in Rome after all the issues and met Pope Francis several times. In fact, he then attended the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI last week.
