Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s third-highest-ranking official, will stand trial on several charges of sexual abuse from multiple complainants, an Australian court ruled on Tuesday.

The slow-moving case — charges were filed in June — has been a test of both Australia’s justice system and the Vatican’s efforts to hold clerics accountable after decades of abuse scandals.

It is occurring in a country where where defamation law favors plaintiffs, where criminal law protects defendants more than it does in many other countries, and where a number of legal standards restrict reporters’ ability to publish information related to criminal cases.

Here’s a guide to why many of the details of Cardinal Pell’s case may remain obscured, and to what we know about the cardinal and the case so far.