Cardinal Pell - Dramatic fall from grace for Vatican treasurer

Cardinal George Pell arrives at the County Court in Melbourne, Australia February 26, 2019. AAP Image/Erik Anderson/via REUTERS

SYDNEY (Reuters) - For two decades, George Pell was the dominant figure in the Catholic Church in Australia - a boy from a gold mining town whose ambition, intellect and knack for befriending influential people propelled him to become the third-most senior official in the Vatican.

That came crashing down in December, when a court found Pell, 77, guilty of five charges of child sex offences committed in a Melbourne cathedral 115 km (70 miles) from his hometown of Ballarat. The verdict had been subject to a court order that prevented reporting of the case until the judge lifted the restrictions on Tuesday.