In a last-ditch effort to clear his name, disgraced Cardinal Pell appealed his sex abuse conviction in Australia's High Court.
He filed his application for leave to appeal just one day before the 28-day lodgement window closed, a court official in Canberra said.
The former Vatican treasurer who once helped elect popes, last month lost an appeal in Victoria state's Court of Appeal. The 78-year old is serving a six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s. And this is his last avenue to get out of jail, even as his supporters firmly believe that Pell hasn't committed the crime.
However, there is no guarantee that the High Court will agree to consider Pell's case. Australia's most senior judges will now deliberate on whether to allow the appeal to proceed, a process that could take months.
The decision saw two judges back the jury's verdict and a dissenting judge side with Pell. And this is at the forefront of his latest bid to overturn the convictions.
The third judge, however, found the victim's account— the former choirboy, now in his 30s— "contained discrepancies" and there was a "significant possibility" Pell did not commit the offences. Two of the judges found the witness to be "very compelling" and someone who "was clearly not a liar, was not a fantasist and was a witness of truth". The second boy who was assaulted by Pell died of overdose without having complained that he was abused by the cardinal.
The judge who backed Pell, also felt that the disgraced Cardinal could not have had enough time to molest the boys during a 5-6 minute period after Sunday Mass ended and before the area became a "hive of activity".
Court documents show his legal team are mounting two grounds of appeal, with the key argument being the majority judges applied an "erroneous judicial method" in "upholding with the jury's verdict".
During Pell's trial under a court-ordered veil of secrecy, the Vatican gradually removed him from top Church bodies with little explanation.
Shortly after his conviction, Pell was removed from the so-called C9 Council of Cardinals that are effectively the Pope's cabinet and inner circle of advisers. The Vatican later dropped him as the church's finance chief but revealed last month it would avoid launching an investigation into his conduct until after all legal avenues are exhausted.
The Archbishop of Melbourne too, reiterated his belief in the cardinal last month.
