The conviction provides one of the clearest examples of how the sexual abuse scandal has eroded the church’s credibility while ensnaring figures in the upper echelons of power. One Australian courtroom observer said that Pell’s sentencing proceedings would begin in February and that he will be tried next year on additional charges. Last week, an Australian appeals court cleared Philip Wilson, the former archbishop of Adelaide, on charges that he helped conceal the sexual abuse of two altar boys by a priest. “The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me,” Pell said. For Francis, Pell’s conviction is just the latest in a series of major abuse-related developments that have amounted to the greatest challenge of his papacy.

Source: Washington Post December 13, 2018 00:30 UTC