Controversial Catholic Cleric Pell dies aged 81.

Cardinal Geroge Pell, whose conviction on child abuse charges shocked the Catholic church before being quashed, has died at 81.

The former Vatican treasured Australia,s highest-ranking Catholic cleric, and most senior church figure ever jailed for the offense.

He died of heart complications after hip surgery, Cardinal Pell served as Archbishop of both Melbourne and Sydney before becoming one of Poe’s top aides.

He was summoned to Rome in 2014 to clean up the Vatican’s finance and was often described as the Church’s third-ranked official, but the cleric left his post in 2017, returning to Australia to face trial on child sex abuse charges.