Cardinal George Pell has released a statement after the High Court of Australia granted his appeal against his historical child sexual abuse conviction.
After hearing the news inside Barwon Prison, Victoria, the 78-year-old said he feels relieved.
"I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice," the statement said.
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"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.
"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.
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"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 letters 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.
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"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."
Pell was found guilty in December 2018 on four counts of an indecent act with a child under 16, and on one count of sexual penetration. He was accused of abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in Melbourne's St. Patrick's Cathedral in the late 1990s.
But, after taking the matter to the country's highest court, Pell has had his convictions overturned.
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The High Court of Australia released its decision, saying: "The High Court found that the jury, acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have entertained a doubt as to the applicant's guilt with respect to each of the offences for which he was convicted, and ordered that the convictions be quashed and that verdicts of acquittal be entered in their place."
The Court decided to quash the conviction and order an acquittal based on 'a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof'.
The decision to acquit does not mean Pell was found not guilty, simply that there wasn't enough evidence to uphold his conviction.
There will be no retrial or further legal proceedings in Australia. After more than 400 days in prison, Pell will be able to walk free.
Featured Image Credit: PA