The charges against Cardinal George Pell, Australia's highest-ranking Catholic and Pope Francis' top financial adviser, has stunned the Holy See and threatens to tarnish the pontiff's image as a crusader against abusive clergy.
The 76 year old, has maintained his innocence since he was charged last month with sexually abusing multiple people years ago in his Australian home state of Victoria.
Details of the allegations against him have yet to be made public, though police have described the charges as "historical" sexual assault offences - crimes that occurred years ago.
Pell did not say anything during his court appearance in Melbourne or as he left, surrounded by police and journalists. He has not yet entered a formal plea but his lawyer, Robert Richter, told the court Pell planned to plead not guilty at a later date.
Richter said: "For the avoidance of doubt and because of the interest, I might indicate that Cardinal Pell pleads not guilty to all charges and will maintain the presumed innocence that he has."
Many clerics have faced allegations of sex abuse in recent years, but Pell is by far the highest-ranking church official charged.
He entered the court flanked by security guards and received a smattering of applause from several members of a local parish who attended the hearing to support the cardinal. To them, he has been pre-emptively and unfairly condemned before the facts of the case are known.
Trevor Atkinson, who has met Pell previously said: "We're coming here open-minded - we'd like to hear the facts. It's really a matter of giving him a fair go."
To others, the appearance in court of one of the church's most esteemed officials was a long overdue acknowledgement of the suffering felt by so many victims of clergy abuse. Julie Cameron, of Melbourne, stood outside the court holding a painting of Mary cradling an infant Jesus - an image she said was symbolic of the church's duty to protect children.
She said: "This is where the actual Catholic Church has to go through renewal. It has to acknowledge the crimes that were committed on children."
The case places both the cardinal and the Pope in potentially perilous territory.
For Pell, the charges are a threat to his freedom, his reputation and his career. For Francis, they are a threat to his credibility, given he famously promised a "zero tolerance" policy for sex abuse in the church.
Advocates for abuse victims have long railed against Francis' decision to appoint Pell to the high-ranking position in the first place; at the time of his promotion in 2014, Pell was already facing allegations that he had mishandled cases of clergy abuse during his time as archbishop of Melbourne and later Sydney.
In 2014, Francis created a commission of outside experts to advise him and the broader church about the best ways to fight abuse and protect children.
But the commission suffered a credibility setback when two members who were abuse survivors left in frustration.
And the commission's signature proposal - a tribunal to hear cases of bishops who covered up for abuse - was scrapped by the Pope himself after Vatican officials objected.
So far, Francis has withheld judgment of Pell, saying he wants to wait for Australian justice to run its course. He did not force the cardinal to resign, though Pell took an immediate leave of absence so he could return to Australia to fight the charges.
Pell said he intended to continue his work as a prefect of the church's economy ministry once the case was resolved.
In recent years, Pell's actions as archbishop came under particular scrutiny by a government-authorised investigation into how the Catholic Church and other institutions have responded to the sexual abuse of children.
Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse - the nation's highest form of inquiry - revealed earlier this year that 7 per cent of Catholic priests were accused of sexually abusing children in Australia over the past several decades.
In testimony to the commission last year, Pell conceded that he had made mistakes by often believing priests over those who said they had been abused and vowed to help end a rash of suicides that has plagued abuse victims in his home town of Ballarat.
But over the past year, the allegations against Pell moved beyond the way he had handled cases of clergy abuse to accusations that he, himself, had committed abuse.
Australian detectives flew to the Vatican to interview him last year and formally charged him last month.Police and prosecutors must present their brief of evidence to Pell's legal team by September 8 and the cardinal is next expected in court on October 6.
