The most senior Catholic to be found guilty of sexually abusing children has been granted leave to appeal by Australia’s highest court.

The decision by the High Court of Australia comes nearly a year after Cardinal George Pell was convicted of molesting two 13-year-old choirboys in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in the late 1990s.

Pell, 78, was sentenced to six years in prison in March and is no longer a member of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals or a Vatican official.

Victoria state Court of Appeal rejected his appeal in August.

Pell, a former finance minister for Pope Francis, is in a Melbourne prison and did not attend the court in Canberra to hear the decision on Wednesday.

In a 12-page application, his lawyers argued that two state appeals court judges made an error in dismissing his appeal in August.

They claimed that requiring Pell to prove that the abuse was impossible, rather than putting the onus of proof on prosecutors, was a mistake.

His lawyers also argued the two judges were wrong to find the jury’s unanimous guilty verdict was reasonable, claiming there was reasonable doubt over whether opportunity existed for the crimes to have occurred.

They say Pell should be acquitted of all charges for a number of reasons, including inconsistencies in the accusers’ version of events.

In their written submission to the High Court, prosecutors argued there is no basis for an appeal.

Pell was largely convicted on the testimony of one victim. The second victim died from an accidental heroin overdose in 2014 when he was 31, and had not alleged that he had been abused.

He must serve at least three years and eight months in jail before he becomes eligible for parole.

As a convicted paedophile, he is provided with extra protection in prison and spends 23 hours a day in solitary confinement.

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