Disgraced Catholic Cardinal George Pell was handed a final chance to clear his name Wednesday, when Australia's top court agreed to allow his appeal of child abuse convictions.
The 78-year-old former Vatican treasurer is currently serving a six-year jail sentence for molesting two 13-year-old choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s, but continues to deny any wrongdoing.
In a statement that took less than a minute to read and gave no hint of the deep emotions stirred by Pell's case, Justice Michelle Gordon said Australia's High Court had granted Pell "special leave to appeal".
The veteran judge said the case would "be referred to a full court of this court for argument".
No date was set for the appeal hearing, but it is not expected before 2020. Pell is the most senior Catholic to be locked up as a swathe of child abuse cases against clergy around the world are brought.
Cathy Kezelman, president of victim support group the Blue Knot Foundation, said lengthening the legal process would only cause "further potential trauma" for the surviving victim and "many others who are watching and waiting".
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The father of the second victim, who died of a drug overdose in 2014, said he was "gutted" by the High Court decision.
Sydney Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher welcomed the decision. "Many questions remain, and it is appropriate that these will be examined by our highest court," he said in a statement.
"For the sake of all involved in this case, I hope that the appeal will be heard as soon as possible." A spokesperson for Pell said: "This matter is now still before the court and so we are unable to comment."