An Australian judge has sentenced Cardinal George Pell to six years in prison for molesting two choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral more than 20 years ago.
Pell will have to serve at least three years and eight months behind bars before he will be eligible for parole, according to The Associated Press.
{mosads}Pell, Pope Francis’s former finance minister, was convicted in December of sexually assaulting the two 13-year-olds. He also was found guilty of assaulting one of the boys again more than a month after the initial assault.
The 77-year-old has denied the allegations and vowed to appeal his convictions in June. He is the most senior member of the Catholic Church to be convicted of child sex abuse.
“I would characterize these breaches and abuses as grave,” Judge Peter Kidd said during the sentencing, according to The Courier. “You had time to reflect on your behavior as you offended, yet you refused to desist.”
The sentence comes after years of legal jostling over evidence of the accusations, though the Australian legal system kept much of the details out of the public eye. The gag order was lifted only a few weeks ago.
Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, called the verdict “shocking and painful,” according to Catholic news site Crux. He added that the case “is an incentive to continue the pope’s line: Fighting against this phenomenon and paying attention to the victims.”