By Adam Cooper and AAP
EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.
Cardinal George Pell has arrived at a Melbourne court under an intense international media glare for a hearing that will decide if he stands trial on historical sexual offence charges.
An enormous media pack mobbed the 76-year-old Cardinal as he and his legal team arrived outside Melbourne Magistrates Court in white car on Monday morning.
About 20 police officers shielded the Cardinal from the international media throng as he walked from the car to the courthouse.
The Cardinal is the highest-ranking Catholic official to be charged with sexual abuse and is returning to court to fight the charges at a month-long committal hearing.
After being charged last year with multiple historical sexual offence charges involving multiple complainants, the Cardinal said he was looking forward to his day in court.
Up to 50 witnesses could be called and a voluminous amount of evidence discussed during the committal hearing.
Cardinal Pell, who has retained leading Victorian criminal barrister, Robert Richter QC, has repeatedly and emphatically denied all allegations.
Dozens of Australian and international journalists are expected to cover the court case, with foreign interest from the BBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Swedish National Radio.
Prosecutors on Friday withdrew one of the charges, relating to a complainant who died after the criminal proceedings began in 2017.
The committal hearing will initially be open to the public as the defence and prosecution finalise further administrative matters, but will quickly move behind closed doors as accusers begin to give their evidence.
The hearing will be closed to the public and media for two weeks while the complainants give their evidence.
It is standard practice in Victoria for courts to be closed when complainants in sexual offence cases give evidence.
At the end of the hearing, it will be up to Magistrate Belinda Wallington to decide if there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial in the Victorian County Court.
Cardinal Pell will not have to enter a formal plea unless committed to stand trial, but his barrister Mr Richter has previously told the court his client will plead not guilty to all charges.
Cardinal Pell was a priest in Ballarat before becoming Archbishop of Melbourne and then being appointed as a Cardinal at the Vatican, where he was put in charge of the church's finances.
He has taken leave from his position as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy to fight the charges.