[Breaking] Cardinal George Pell found guilty of child sexual assault

Cardinal George Pell, Australia's highest-ranking Catholic, has been convicted of five child sex offences committed in 1996.

Australia's most senior Catholic Cardinal George Pell departs the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Wednesday, May 2, 2018. Source: AAP

Australia's highest-ranking Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, raped a choirboy in the 1990s and molested another.

A jury convicted Pell of five sexual assault charges against the boys, dating back to his time as newly-installed Archbishop of Melbourne at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996.

The world's most senior Catholic to ever face such charges maintains his innocence and has already launched an appeal. He is due to be taken into custody on February 27 before sentencing in March.