Cardinal George Pell, a powerful but divisive figure within the Catholic Church, dies at 81

Rome — Cardinal George Pell, a onetime financial adviser to Pope Francis who spent 404 days in solitary confinement in his native Australia before his child sex abuse convictions were overturned, has died at age 81.

He was a divisive figure. He lived to see Vatican rivals charged with financial crimes after he worked to reform the Holy See's finances. In Australia, he was a lightning rod for disagreements over whether the Catholic Church had been properly held to account for historic child sex abuse.   Pell died Tuesday in Rome, where he had attended the funeral last week of Pope Benedict XVI. Pell suffered fatal heart complications following hip surgery, said Archbishop Peter Comensoli, Pell's successor as archbishop of Melbourne.   Sydney Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher told reporters the death had come as a shock.   "It will be for historians to assess his impact on the life of the church in Australia and beyond, but it was considerable and will be long lasting," Fisher said.

"For many people, particularly of the Catholic faith, this will be a difficult day and I express my condolences to all those who are mourning today," said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.   Fisher said a requiem for Pell would be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican in the next few days, and in time his body would be brought back to Australia for a funeral Mass and buried in the crypt at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.   Journalist Lucie Morris-Marr, who wrote the book "Fallen" about Pell's trial, said on Twitter that Pell's death "will be terribly triggering for many Australians impacted by Catholic child sexual abuse and not just those involved in his trial."   Pell, the former archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, became the third-highest ranked official in the Vatican after Pope Francis tapped him in 2014 to reform the Vatican's notoriously opaque finances as the Holy See's first-ever finance czar.