George Pell has responded in a statement thanking his supporters for “prayers and letters” less than an hour after he won his appeal bid.

On Tuesday, the court unanimously found the 78-year-old’s conviction for child sex abuse should be overturned and he left Victoria’s Barwon prison just after 12.30pm.

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Pell has released a statement saying he is looking forward to reading the judgment and consistently maintains his innocence.

“The only basis for long term healing is truth and the only basis for justice is truth, because justice means truth for all,” it read.

A jury found Pell guilty of five charges in December 2018, accepting evidence of one complainant that the Cardinal had sexually abused him and another 13-year-old choirboy at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996.

An appeal to Victoria’s Court of Appeal last year was unsuccessful.

But the full bench of seven judges revealed in a unanimous judgment on Tuesday that the jury should have had reasonable doubt as to Pell’s guilt.

Cardinal George Pell arrives at the County Court in Melbourne in February. Credit: Andy Brownbill / AP

George Pell’s full statement:

I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice.

This has been remedied today with the High Court’s unanimous decision.

I look forward to reading the judgment and reasons for the decision in detail.

I hold no ill will toward my accuser, I do not want my acquittal to add to the hurt and bitterness so many feel; there is certainty hurt and bitterness enough.

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However my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church; nor a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of paedophilia in the church.

The point was whether I had committed these awful crimes, and I did not.

The only basis for long term healing is truth and the only basis for justice is truth, because justice means truth for all.

A special thanks for all the prayers and thousands of letter of support.

I want to thank in particular my family for their love and support and what they had to go through; my small team of advisors; those who spoke up for me and suffered as a result; and all my friends and supporters here and overseas.

Also my deepest thanks and gratitude to my entire legal team for their unwavering resolve to see justice prevail, to throw light on manufactured obscurity and to reveal the truth.

Finally, I am aware of the current health crisis. I am praying for all those affected and our medical frontline personnel.

Cardinal George Pell.