The immediate reaction of Prime Minister Scott Morrison cut straight to the point.

The news had filtered through that the judges had dismissed Cardinal George Pell's appeal against his convictions over sexual offences against two choirboys in Melbourne in the 1990s.

"They've rendered their verdict, and that's the system of justice in this country and that must be respected," Mr Morrison said at a press conference yesterday.

Pell is now likely to be stripped of his Order of Australia.

"Events like this today bring it all back," Mr Morrison said.

"I would urge Australians who are finding themselves reliving these experiences to reach out to those around them, to reach out to the services that are there for them."

Words from political and community leaders matter on this issue because for so long, victims were not believed and children were not protected.

Worse, they were worn down by the institutions that enabled their abuse.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 36 seconds 36 s Cardinal George Pell loses appeal against historical child abuse convictions.

How will the church react next?

Pell was a leading figure in the Roman Catholic Church's harmful response to child abuse in this country.

His defenders, including a few media headline hawkers, point to the "Melbourne Response" as an attempt to treat survivors with compassion.

This one-off-cash-payment scheme — set up in the 1990s, around the time Pell was abusing children — has been repeatedly discredited by formal inquiries but the Vatican has stood by it.

It is still in place, despite the heavy criticisms of it.

How do politicians and church leaders view this scheme now?

Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli, who last week said he would rather go to jail than report child abuse revealed to him in the confessional, has accepted the rule of law in this case.

"I respectfully receive the court's decision," he said. "And I encourage everyone to do the same."

But how will Archbishop Comensoli deal with the legacy of his friend?

What's the message on Sunday?

In 2014, the ground-breaking Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse asked the Vatican to hand over all its files relating to allegations of clergy sexual abuse in Australia.

The church said it was "neither possible nor appropriate".

Speaking from Rome, Pell told the commissioners their request was "unreasonable".

Such a response should now be viewed in the context of his criminal conviction.

Until yesterday, the Australia Catholic Bishops' Conference has said nothing about Pell's crimes, only that it was awaiting his appeal.

Now that the result of that appeal has been handed down, their statement still does not condemn its high-ranking colleague.

"Cardinal Pell's legal team has said it will examine the judgment in order to determine a special leave application to the High Court," it read.

"The Bishops realise that this has been and remains a most difficult time for survivors of child sexual abuse and those who support them."

What will be the message from the pulpit this Sunday?

Hopefully, our community leaders remember to quote the court, which found the victim was "not a liar".

Editor's note: On Tuesday April 7, 2020, the High Court in a unanimous decision upheld Cardinal Pell's appeal and quashed his convictions on all five charges.