Cardinal George Pell, Prefect Emeritus of the Secretariat for the Economy and Archbishop Emeritus of Sydney, died this evening in Rome, after complications from a hip replacement surgery he underwent earlier today. He was 81 years old.

Born in Ballarat, Australia, on June 8, 1941, he studied at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome. He was ordained a priest on December 16, 1966, and , after specializing in theology, he studied at Oxford, majoring in church history.

Starting in 1971, he worked in a number of parishes in his home diocese. From 1985 to 1987 he was rector of Corpus Christi Seminary, in Carlton, Australia.

On March 30, 1987 John Paul II appointed him as titular bishop of Scala and auxiliary bishop of Melbourne, and in 1996 he was promoted to Metropolitan Archbishop of Melbourne.

In 2001 he became Metropolitan Archbishop of Sydney, and, two years later, he was appointed as Cardinal of Holy Roman Church, with the title of Santa Maria Domenica Mazzarello.

He took part in the conclaves of 2005 and 2013.

On April 13, 2013, Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Council of Cardinals for the reform of the Roman Curia, and the following February 24 he became prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy. He left the both posts in December 2018 and February 2019, respectively.

On June 29, 2017, he was indicted for child abuse and returned to Australia to stand trial. In his first trial, he was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. He served over a year of the sentence, but on April 7, 2020, he was cleared of all charges and released.

He returned to the Vatican in early fall 2020.

Only a few days ago, he concelebrated at the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.