BREAKING NEWS

Ex-Vatican treasurer Pell freed from jail, acquitted of sex offenses

Pope Francis, speaking just a few hours after Australia's highest court acquitted Cardinal George Pell of sexually assaulting two choirboys, on Tuesday offered his morning Mass for those who suffer from unjust sentences.

The court quashed convictions that Pell sexually assaulted the two teenagers in the 1990s and allowed the 78-year-old former Vatican economy minister to walk free from jail, ending the most high profile case of alleged historical sex abuse to rock the Roman Catholic Church.

Each morning at the Mass in his residence, Francis chooses an intention for the service, such as remembering the poor, the homeless or the sick.