EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.

Australia’s Catholic Church is under internal pressure to undergo a drastic overhaul following George Pell’s conviction, with its own members stepping up calls for the ordination of women, an end to clericalism and greater inclusion for people who are LGBTI or divorced.

Less than two weeks after Pell lost his appeal to overturn a jail term for child sex abuse, prominent Catholics have warned that the case should serve as a wake-up call given how much influence the disgraced cardinal has had on the church.

George Pell. Credit:Nine

“A convicted paedophile has played a major part in the form of the Church we see today,” said Catholics for Renewal spokesman Peter Johnstone, one of the church’s strongest internal critics. “It can’t just be business as usual.”