Cardinal Pell gets six years for sexual abuse

(ANSA) - Rome, March 13 - An Australian court on Wednesday sentenced Cardinal George Pell to a six-year prison term after he was found guilty of sexually abusing two choirboys in the 1990s.
    The court said that Pell, until recently the prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, would not be eligible for parole until he has served three years, eight months of the sentence. The 77-year-old, who was also a member of the Council of Cardinals, the body that advises Pope Francis on reform of the Church, is the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of child sex abuse.
    Pell says he is innocent and is appealing.