Cardinal George Pell wins final bid for freedom

Jailed Cardinal George Pell has been given a final chance to fight his convictions for child sex abuse offences, after the High Court agreed to hear his appeal.

The 78-year-old is currently serving a six-year jail sentence after a jury unanimously found he had sexually assaulted two choirboys while he was the archbishop of Melbourne in the mid-1990s.

The application for special leave to appeal was considered by High Court Justices James Edelman and Michelle Gordon, who have referred the case to the full bench of seven justices.

Their decision was based on extensive submissions from both sides lodged ahead of the special leave application.

The judges decided an oral hearing was not necessary, referring the case based on the written submissions.

The hearing is unlikely to happen until next year.

'HURT NEVER GOES AWAY'

Meanwhile, the father of Pell's late victim, who died from a heroin overdose in 2014, has written to the Pope demanding to know why Pell had kept his title as Cardinal and why the Catholic Church continued to insist on celibacy for priests.

"Why have you not defrocked him and stripped him of his status within the church?" he asked.

The father, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, also asked for an update on the Holy See's investigation into Pell.

'SO IT CONTINUES'

A hearing before the full bench of the High Court puts on hold the release of never-before-seen findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The lengthy inquiry's final report was heavily redacted after Pell was charged with child sex abuse offences.

The Attorney General has indicated the full report — including any findings into Cardinal Pell — will not be released while his legal case continues.

EVIDENCE CAME FROM ONE CHOIRBOY

Pell was convicted of assaulting the boys at St Patrick's Cathedral in the mid-1990s, after celebrating one of his first Sunday masses as archbishop.

He was also convicted of abusing one of the boys a second time, two months later.

Evidence of the abuse came from just one of the choirboys. The other victim died in 2014 and never made a complaint to his family or police.