Australia's top court has ruled that Cardinal George Pell will be allowed a final chance to challenge his child sexual abuse convictions.

Pell was granted leave to appeal the verdict in the High Court of Australia.

The ex-Vatican treasurer is currently serving a six-year jail term for abusing two boys in a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s.

He lost his first challenge against his convictions in August and has consistently maintained his innocence.

Pell is the most high-ranking Catholic official in the world to be convicted of child sexual abuse.

Last December, a jury unanimously found him guilty of sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys in St Patrick's Cathedral, when he was the city's archbishop.

Pell unsuccessfully challenged the verdict in Victoria's Court of Appeal in August, when a panel of three judges ruled against him 2-1.

[Source: BBC]