High-profile Australians react to George Pell's death trends now
View
comments
High-profile Australians have mixed reactions to the death of controversial Cardinal George Pell, who was at the centre of child sex abuse allegations for two decades - and it's not all tributes and tears.
Cardinal Pell, 81, underwent a successful surgery in a Vatican hospital and was chatting with the anaesthetist when he went into sudden cardiac arrest. Medics were unable to revive him.
He was ordained a priest in 1966 and became a bishop in 1987, and was appointed Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 and Archbishop of Sydney in 2001 before was made a cardinal in 2003.
However, his lengthy career came under a cloud in 2018 when a jury convicted him of historic child sex incidents - which he strenuously denied. Pell spent 404 days behind bars.
His conviction was quashed on appeal to the High Court in 2020.
But despite the legal ruling, many prominent Australians still believed the allegations against him.
Cardinal Pell (pictured), 81, underwent a successful surgery in a Vatican hospital and was chatting with the anaesthetist when he went into sudden cardiac arrest
Australians flooded social media following the shock announcement of his death on Tuesday morning - some remembered him as a 'man of great integrity', while others paid tribute to child sexual assault survivors.
Award-winning journalist Suzie Smith, who wrote The Altar Boys - a book about child sex abuse allegations
