CARDINAL GEORGE PELL'S CAREER:
JUNE 8, 1941 - Born in Ballarat, Victoria
DECEMBER 16, 1966 - Ordained a Catholic priest
1971-1972 - Assistant priest Swan Hill parish
1973-1983 - Assistant priest Ballarat East parish
1973 - Shared St Alipius presbytery with Gerald Ridsdale (later revealed as Australia's worst pedophile priest) and Monsignor William McMahon
1973-1984 - Episcopal Vicar for Education in Diocese of Ballarat; founding member of Catholic Education Commission of Victoria
1981-1984 - Principal of Institute of Catholic Education (now merged with Australian Catholic University)
1984 - Administrator of Bungaree parish
JULY 16, 1987 - Ordained as Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Melbourne
1987-1996 - Parish priest Mentone, Bishop for the southern region of Melbourne
1988-1997 - Chair of Caritas Australia
MAY 27, 1993 - Accompanies Ridsdale to his first court appearance. Later says it was a mistake to show priestly solidarity and he did not know full extent of Ridsdale's crimes
JUNE 16, 1996 - Appointed Archbishop of Melbourne by Pope John Paul II
AUGUST 16, 1996 - Installed as archbishop
OCTOBER 1996 - Announces Melbourne Response protocol for handling sex abuse complaints in Melbourne archdiocese
MARCH 26, 2001 - Appointed Archbishop of Sydney by Pope John Paul II
MAY 10, 2001 - Installed as archbishop
APRIL 21, 2003 - Awarded Centenary Medal by Australian government
SEPTEMBER 28, 2003 - Elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals by John Paul II
2005 - Appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia
FEBRUARY 2007 - Appointed to Council of Cardinals on Organisational and Economic Problems of the Holy See
APRIL 2013 - Appointed by Pope Francis to a group of eight cardinals to advise on government of the universal Church and study plan for revising Apostolic Constitution of Roman Curia
MAY 2013 - Gives evidence to Victorian parliamentary inquiry into handling of abuse by religious and other organisations in Melbourne
FEBRUARY 25, 2014 - Appointed as Prefect for the newly-created Secretariat for the Economy, Holy See
MARCH 2014 - Gives evidence to Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney. The hearing focuses on the legal case of abuse victim John Ellis from Pell's time as Sydney archbishop.
AUGUST 2014 - Second royal commission appearance via videolink from the Vatican, to Melbourne hearing on the Melbourne Response
FEBRUARY 29 - March 3, 2016 - Third royal commission appearance, via videolink from Rome hotel conference room to Sydney; hearing on church's handling of child abuse allegations in Ballarat diocese and Melbourne archdiocese.
JUNE 29, 2017 - Charged with multiple historical sexual offences involving multiple complainants. Pope Francis grants Pell leave of absence to return to Australia to defend himself.
JULY 10, 2017 - Arrives in Sydney, lives at the Good Shepherd Seminary.
DECEMBER 2018 - Found guilty of abusing boys at the Melbourne cathedral, after a hung jury in the first trial.
DECEMBER 12, 2018 - The Vatican reveals Pell is one of two cardinals to leave the pope's inner council after their five-year terms.
FEBRUARY 25, 2019 - A second set of charges against Pell are dropped.
FEBRUARY 26, 2019 - The Vatican announces Pell's five-year term as the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy had expired two days earlier.
FEBRUARY 27, 2019 - The Vatican opens its own investigation into Pell.
AUGUST 21, 2019 - The Vatican says it will wait to see the outcome of a potential High Court appeal before taking any action on Pell's status within the church.
Australian Associated Press
