Cardinal George Pell, one of the most powerful men in the Roman Catholic Church, has been found guilty of child sexual assault in Australia in a verdict which has sent shockwaves through the Vatican and around the world.

Each of the five charges of which he was found guilty carries a maximum 10-year jail term. The 77-year-old Vatican treasurer Cardinal, a trusted advisor of the Pope, was found guilty of orally raping one choirboy and molesting another in Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral 22 years ago. Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic cleric, will be sentenced after the end of a five-week trial in the Victorian County Court and over three days of deliberations by the jury.