Cardinal George Pell: Vatican's third-highest ranking official in court over historical sexual abuse charges

Pope Francis' former finance minister hears testimony from alleged victims on first day of hearing

Cardinal George Pell was charged with historical sexual assault offences last year. (Reuters)

The most senior Catholic Church leader to be charged with sexual abuse has appeared in an Australian court for a hearing that will determine whether he will face a full trial by jury.

Cardinal George Pell, 76, faced testimony from his alleged victims, who spoke to the Melbourne court via video link from an undisclosed location.

No details of the complainants or the crimes, described by police as historical sexual assault offences, have yet been released to the public.

Testimonies given during the course of the hearing will remain secret.

Cardinal Pell, Pope Francis’ former finance minister and former archbishop of Sydney, was charged last June with sexually abusing multiple people in his home state of Victoria.

They came five years after a royal commission began an investigation into how the Catholic Church and other institutions had responded to sexual abuse of children in Australia over a number of decades.

Cardinal Pell’s lawyers told the court last month that the first complainant approached police in 2015, 40 years after the alleged abuse.

They came forward after seeing media coverage of the commission, they said.

The Cardinal denies all of the allegations and has said that he intends to return to his job at the Vatican once the criminal charges are resolved.

"I am innocent of these charges," he said last year. "They are false. The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me."

While Cardinal Pell’s lawyer did not object to testimony being given via video link at the hearing, he did question why one appeared with what prosecutor Mark Gibson described as a “support dog”.

"I always thought that dogs were for children and very old people," Robert Richter told the court.

Magistrate Belinda Wallington replied, "No, they're also there for vulnerable and traumatised people."

Cardinal Pell is expected to plead not guilty if the current hearing, which could last a month, finds there is sufficient evidence to warrant a jury trial.

Pope Francis did not force the Cardinal to resign and has so far withheld judgment of his former finance minister, saying he is waiting for Australian justice to run its course.

The pontiff’s declared “zero tolerance” stance for sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has been shaken several times since December, when he came under fire for participating in the funeral of Cardinal Bernard Law.

The former Boston archbishop resigned in disgrace in 2002 after a Boston Globe investigation revealed he and other bishops had covered up child abuse by priests.

Last month, after receiving criticism for supporting a Chilean bishop accused by victims of witnessing and ignoring their abuse, Pope Francis reactivated a sex abuse advisory commission that lapsed in December.

Agencies contributed to this report