Cardinal George Pell

George Pell AC (1941–2023), former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, was born and educated in Ballarat, Victoria. At high school he excelled as an Australian Rules footballer, but he felt called to the priesthood and began his preparations for it at Corpus Christi College, Melbourne in 1960. He was ordained in 1966 having completed his studies in Rome, and he later gained a PhD from Oxford. Through the 1970s and early 1980s Pell served in various dioceses in Victoria, and added a MA in education to his qualifications. Appointed auxiliary bishop of Melbourne in 1987, he became that city's seventh Catholic archbishop in 1996; in 2001 he became the eighth Archbishop of Sydney. He was created a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003. Generally characterised as a conservative as a consequence of his views on matters such as the ordination of women, homosexuality, the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS, the celibacy of clergymen, embryonic stem cell research, divorce and climate change, Pell wrote for religious and secular publications here and overseas, and published a number of books on aspects of church history.

Pell moved to Rome in 2014 after being appointed head of the Vatican's secretariat for the economy. In 2017, however, he was required to return to Australia to face trial for the alleged sexual abuse of two choirboys, with the offences said to have taken place during the 1990s. Pell strenuously denied the charges, but was convicted in December 2018 and subsequently sentenced to six years' jail. In April 2020, having served over a year of the sentence in Victoria’s Barwon Prison, he was released after a successful appeal to the High Court. A full bench of seven judges ruled unanimously in his favour, finding that the evidence presented at trial had not been properly considered by the jury. Afterwards, Pell returned to Rome, where he died in January 2023.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2012