Vatican treasurer pleads not guilty to historical sexual abuse charges

Cardinal George Pell.
(Image credit: Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican treasurer and Australia's most senior Catholic official, has been ordered to stand trial on multiple counts of historical sexual abuse.

The 76-year-old cardinal pleaded not guilty in a Melbourne court on Tuesday morning. Magistrate Belinda Wallington dismissed several of the most serious accusations against Pell, saying the witnesses were unreliable and there was not enough evidence, but Pell will face charges relating to alleged sexual abuse at a pool in the 1970s and in Melbourne's St. Patrick's Cathedral in the 1990s, when Pell was archbishop of Melbourne. Pell has long denied the allegations.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.