Cardinal Who Had Sex Convictions Reversed Dies

ROME (AP) – Cardinal George Pell, a onetime financial adviser to Pope Francis who had sex abuse convictions overturned, has died. The 81-year-old Australian died Tuesday after suffering heart complications from hip surgery. Pell was once the third-highest ranked Catholic in the Vatican. He was a divisive figure. He lived to see Vatican rivals charged with financial crimes after he worked to reform the church’s finances. In Australia, he was a lightning rod for disagreements over whether the church had been properly held to account for historic child sex abuse. Even after he was acquitted, Pell’s reputation remained tarnished by the scandal and in particular his handling of other priests who abused children.