Cardinal George Pell’s lawyers have withdrawn their planned bail application and has been remanded in custody, with sentencing to take place on 13 March.
Pell was initially scheduled to apply for bail this afternoon, following the pre-sentence court hearing in Melbourne but prosecutors told the court he had felt no remorse for sexually abusing two choirboys at a Melbourne cathedral and no insight into his crimes.
Australia's highest-ranking Catholic faced a pre-sentence court hearing after he was convicted of five child sex offences, committed in 1996 against two 13-year-old boys.
"The prisoner has shown no remorse or insight into his offending," Senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Gibson SC told the County Court on Wednesday.
"There remains no explanation for this offending."
The cleric was forced to push through a crowd of of protesters as he arrived at his pre-sentence court hearing earlier.
There were cries of "you're filth" and "go to hell" as Pell, 77, arrived at the County Court on Wednesday morning after being convicted of five child sex offences.
It took several minutes for Pell to make his way from a car through the gauntlet of protesters, police, flashing cameras and reporters before filing into the building.
Chief Judge Peter Kidd questioned what Pell was thinking when he attacked the two boys.
"What I want to address is what he was thinking at the time, what motivated him and why he did this in such brazen circumstances," he told Mr Gibson.
The prosecutor could give no explanation but said: "He at least thought he was going to get away with it."
Mr Gibson said Pell, as archbishop of Melbourne at the time, was in a position of power and the offences were a breach of trust.
"There's an unlikelihood of him being questioned because of his position of power," he said.
Mr Gibson finished by saying Pell's crimes warranted immediate imprisonment.
Judge Kidd said he regarded Pell's prospects of rehabilitation as very good and believed he was unlikely to reoffend, in part because of his age.
Guilty verdict
Pell was found guilty by a jury in December of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old choirboy in 1996 and molesting another at St Patrick's Cathedral in East Melbourne.
He had been newly appointed Archbishop of Melbourne when he committed the crimes.
The jurors returned a unanimous verdict as part of a retrial following a hung jury in September.
However, a suppression order prevented media reporting details of the trial until the gag was lifted on Tuesday morning.
Pell, who has been on bail throughout the proceedings, may be taken into custody when he returns to the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday.
But he is listed to make a bail application in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday afternoon.
Now Australia's highest-ranking Catholic, the Vatican treasurer was granted extra time on bail over the festive season to have double knee replacement surgery in Sydney.
He had become increasingly frail and had difficulty walking unassisted throughout his trial.
On Wednesday, Pell is due to face Chief Judge Peter Kidd for a plea hearing, where pre-sentencing submissions will be presented by both crown and defence legal teams.
Lawyers for Pell, who maintains his innocence, have lodged an application for leave to appeal the convictions.
On Tuesday, Pell's lawyer Robert Richter QC accepted a prison sentence was inevitable but said he intended to appeal on three grounds, including that the jury verdict was unreasonable as it was contrary to the evidence.
The historical offences each carry a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
'Right to defend himself
Addressing Cardinal George Pell's guilty verdict for the first time, a Vatican spokesperson has confirmed on Tuesday that "precautionary measures" have already been taken against Pell, including a ban on his saying Mass in public and contact with minors.
Interim Vatican spokesperson Alessandro Gisotti said Pell had the right to "defend himself until the last level", noting that the Vatican's former treasurer has maintained his innocence.
He added that the "painful" news of Pell's conviction for sexually abusing two choirboys in Australia has shocked many people, but adds that the prelate "has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself".
"We reiterate the utmost respect for Australian judicial authorities. In the name of this respect, we now await the outcome of the appeal process," he said.
Mr Giosotti didn't take questions from journalists.
On Wednesday the Vatican confirmed Pell was "no longer the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy". It's unknown if he resigned the position or was fired by the church.
The fallout from his conviction began immediately, with Pell sacked from the Pope's Group of Nine advisers the day after, on December 12.
When the verdict went public in Melbourne on Tuesday, alma mater St Patrick's College, Ballarat removed his name from a building and Richmond Football Club dropped him as vice-patron.
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference President Mark Coleridge said the news came as a shock to many but he hoped justice would eventually be served.
"We pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones, and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable," he said in a statement on Tuesday.
It all comes just days after a four-day summit on the clerical sexual abuse of children was held at the Vatican.
At the summit, Archbishop Coleridge from Brisbane said the church has become its own worst enemy when dealing with allegations of sexual abuse.
"But who is the enemy? Certainly not those who have challenged the Church to see abuse and its concealment for what they really are, above all the victims and survivors who have led us to the painful truth by telling their stories with such courage," he said.
"At times, however, we have seen victims and survivors as the enemy, but we have not loved them, we have not blessed them. In that sense, we have been our own worst enemy."
Last week, Pope Francis said the prevention of child abuse was “an urgent challenge of our times” but "we have to deflate expectations, because the problem of abuse will continue, it is a human problem.”
The pope is yet to respond directly to Tuesday's events.
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