Cardinal George Pell sentenced to 6 years in prison for child sexual abuse

The cardinal, who insists on his innocence, appeared in court after being convicted by five bad crimes against two children in 1996 and 1997.

The religious – dressed in a black shirt, but without the traditional white clerical collar – remained seated and impbadive, while Judge Kidd described the attacks on the two boys at the altar. "He will not live long enough to be released," said the magistrate, reading the sentence.

He was also found guilty of stalling the two children, then 13, who attended the prestigious St. Kevin School, and badaulted them in December 1996. It was not the only time: the attack was repeated with one of the two children just two months later.

"There is an additional level of degradation and humiliation that each of its victims must have felt to know that the violence they suffered was seen by the other", said the judge.

One of the young victims of abuse died of a heroin overdose in 2014. Pell is the highest representative of the Catholic hierarchy to have been found guilty of badual abuse on minors . Until recently, I was responsible for the Vatican's finances.

This Wednesday, however, Judge Kidd insisted that he was Cardinal Pell and not the Vatican that had been condemned.