Vatican Treasurer Cardinal George Pell, who is facing multiple child sex offence charges in Australia, repeated his denial of guilt at the Holy See on Thursday, BBC reported. Pell, considered to be the third-ranking official in the Vatican, alleged that he was a victim of “relentless character assassination”.

“I am innocent of these charges, they are false,” the 76-year-old told reporters. “The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me.” The official said Pope Francis has granted him a leave of absence to fight the charges.

Pell, who is the most senior Catholic cleric in Australia, has been ordered to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 18. “Victoria Police have charged Cardinal George Pell with historical sexual assault offences,” Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton told reporters earlier on Thursday.

“There are multiple complainants relating to those charges.”

Pell is the highest-ranking Catholic official to have been charged in the church’s longest-running sexual abuse scandal. The royal commission was set up in 2012 to investigate complaints of institutional paedophilia.

Pell “is looking forward to his day in court and will defend the charges vigorously,” a statement by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney had said. Cardinal Pell has propagated traditional Catholic values, upheld a conservative stance on same-sex marriage and contraception and has been a proponent of priestly celibacy, BBC reported.

His records have been marred by allegations that he hushed up complaints of child sexual abuse by priests and that he committed the crime himself.

During his three appearances before the royal commission, the prefect of the Secretariat for the Vatican Economy had admitted to having “mucked up” in dealing with paedophile priests in Victoria state in the 1970s, AFP reported.

In 2014, Pope Francis had designated him as finance chief in a bid to make the church finances more transparent following reports about irregularities in the Vatican bank operations .

In January, Pope Francis had directed Catholic bishops across the world to maintain zero tolerance towards child sexual abuse by the clergy. In 2014, he had set up a commission, comprising a few sexual abuse victims, to advise local churches on how to prevent abuse. Pope Francis had also proposed to establish a Vatican tribunal to judge bishops accused of covering up sexual abuse, or even failing to prevent it.