Jailed Cardinal George Pell has been given a final chance to fight his convictions for child sex abuse offences, after the High Court agreed to hear his appeal.

Key points: Pell is in jail for sexually assaulting two choirboys in Melbourne in the mid-1990s

Pell is in jail for sexually assaulting two choirboys in Melbourne in the mid-1990s The High Court appeal is his last chance to quash the convictions after Victoria's Court of Appeal upheld them

The High Court appeal is his last chance to quash the convictions after Victoria's Court of Appeal upheld them The hearing is likely to take place next year

The decision has "gutted" the father of one of Pell's victims, who died of a heroin overdose in 2014.

Pell, 78, is currently serving a six-year jail sentence after a jury unanimously found he had sexually assaulted two choirboys while he was the archbishop of Melbourne in the mid-1990s.

The application for special leave to appeal was considered by High Court Justices James Edelman and Michelle Gordon, who have referred the case to the full bench of seven justices.

Their decision was based on extensive submissions from both sides lodged ahead of the special leave application.

The judges decided an oral hearing was not necessary, referring the case based on the written submissions.

The hearing is unlikely to happen until next year.

Lawyer Lisa Flynn, who is representing the father of Pell's late victim, said it was a sad day for her client.

"He was hopeful that it would all be over today as he continues to be re-traumatised by the unending legal action," she said.

"His pain and suffering remains raw and unresolved.

"Our client holds George Pell responsible for his son's downhill spiral and subsequent fatal heroin overdose.

"He wants to see Pell behind bars where he has no contact with innocent children."

Father presses Pope for answers

The man has written to the Pope demanding to know why Pell had kept his title as Cardinal and why the Catholic Church continued to insist on celibacy for priests.

"Why have you not defrocked him and stripped him of his status within the church?" he asked in the letter.

The father, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, also asked for an update on the Holy See's investigation into Pell.

"The hurt never goes away and I cry a lot over the loss of my son," he said.

"I will always miss the innocent little choirboy that was my son, such a tragic waste of a beautiful boy whose life became a nightmare for himself and those around him."

The father said he was shocked and upset when he was told his son had been named as a victim by the Victoria Police taskforce investigating child sexual abuse.

"As a Catholic, I felt betrayed by the church, but as a parent I felt like a failure," he said.

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Pell, Australia's highest-ranking Catholic, must serve a minimum term of three years and eight months under his current sentence and has already served eight months' jail.

However, the former adviser to the Pope is in poor health and it has previously been noted in court that he is likely to die in jail under his current sentence.

In December 2018, a jury convicted Pell of sexually assaulting the two 13-year-old choirboys on the basis of evidence given by the sole surviving victim.

The High Court bid was the last chance Pell's lawyers had to clear his name, after the Victorian Court of Appeal upheld the jury's verdicts in August.

The three judges were split on the decision, but the verdicts were upheld in a majority two-one ruling.

Victoria's Chief Justice Anne Ferguson and Court of Appeal President Justice Chris Maxwell found the complainant was truthful and dismissed the appeal.

But the dissenting judge, Justice Mark Weinberg, believed his account was "impossible to accept" as it "contained discrepancies [and] displayed inadequacies".

In its submission to the High Court, the Cardinal's legal team had argued the Court of Appeal's majority ruling was wrong as it suggested the court required Pell to prove the offending was impossible, rather than placing the onus of proof on prosecutors.

'So it continues'

A hearing before the full bench of the High Court puts on hold the release of never-before-seen findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The lengthy inquiry's final report was heavily redacted after Pell was charged with child sex abuse offences.

The Attorney-General has indicated the full report — including any findings into Cardinal Pell — will not be released while his legal case continues.

Abuse victims' advocate Chrissie Foster described the High Court decision as "very disappointing".

"[Victims of abuse] will feel the same, they'll feel very disappointed that this permission has been granted and that it's going to continue," she told the ABC.

"I was hoping it would go the way that the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] asked or recommended but that's not to be … so it continues.

"That's the way it often goes in these cases. It's just so hard to hold onto a conviction and make it stick."

Ballarat abuse survivor Stephen Woods, who told a royal commission of his abuse at the hands of three priests, said the High Court's decision would cause more pain to survivors.

"I thought, 'oh dear, there are so many survivors who are on the edge'," Mr Woods said.

"It's going to hurt yet again."

Evidence came from one choirboy

Pell was convicted of assaulting the boys at St Patrick's Cathedral in the mid-1990s, after celebrating one of his first Sunday masses as archbishop.

He was also convicted of abusing one of the boys a second time, two months later.

Evidence of the abuse came from just one of the choirboys. The other victim died in 2014 and never made a complaint to his family or police.

Pell was convicted of abusing two choirboys inside St Patrick's Cathedral after a Sunday mass. ( ABC News: Danielle Bonica )

The surviving victim's evidence was given in a closed court and he cannot be identified.

He told Pell's trial that Pell caught him and a friend swigging altar wine in the priest's sacristy — a room used by the priests to change into their robes.

Pell then pulled one of the boys aside and pushed his head down to his exposed penis.

Pell then forced the other choirboy to perform oral sex on him before fondling him as he masturbated.

That former choirboy told the court that, two months later, Pell molested him in a brief incident in a corridor at the back of the cathedral after mass.

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.