Melbourne, Australia • Cardinal George Pell was sentenced to six years in prison by an Australian judge Wednesday for sexually assaulting two boys in the 1990s, making him the most senior Catholic official to be imprisoned in the worldwide wave of abuse that has blighted the church for the past several decades.
Dressed in an open black shirt, gray jacket and black trousers, Pell blinked but otherwise didn't react as the judge told him that he would probably spend a substantial portion of the rest of his life in prison.
Pell will be eligible for parole in three years and eight months, and he will be placed on a register of sexual offenders for the rest of his life.