02:54

The Australian Catholic University is resisting renaming the “Pell Centre” at its Ballarat campus.

The university’s vice chancellor, Greg Craven, faced a backlash in March for his opinion piece published in the Australian newspaper which described Pell’s trial as “unfair”. Craven also provided Pell with a character reference.

“The university respects the judicial process and will not be making any comment until all legal avenues, including any further appeals, have concluded,” a university spokeswoman said in a statement.

A petition to change the name on change.org is rapidly gathering signatures.