Cardinal George Pell , who cast an imposing shadow over the Roman Catholic Church from the gold-mining town he grew up in, across Australia and to Rome before a fall from grace in his 70s, has died. “It is with deep sadness that I can confirm His Eminence, George Cardinal Pell, passed away in Rome in the early hours of this morning,” Anthony Fisher , archbishop of Sydney, wrote in a post on Facebook. “This news comes as a great shock to all of us.”

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