Australian prosecutors on Thursday defended their case against disgraced Cardinal George Pell under a barrage of questioning from judges, as the final day of his appeal against child sex abuse convictions began.
The 78-year-old former Vatican treasurer is trying to overturn a six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the mid-1990s.
Pell, who once helped elect popes, is the highest-ranking Catholic Church official ever convicted of child sex crimes.
The case has proved highly divisive in Australia, attracting protesters and supporters on Thursday to the High Court in Canberra, where they carried rival signs that read "Criminal Pell: pedophile icon" and "We love you Cardinal George Pell, and genuine victims."
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