A Melbourne magistrate has ruled that there is enough evidence for Cardinal George Pell to stand trial for historic sexual abuses, although the most serious charges have been dropped.

Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied the allegations, and entered a "Not Guilty" plea. 

Magistrate Belinda Wallington ordered Pell to stand trial on charges relating to alleged sexual offending at a pool in Ballarat in the 1970s and at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral in the 1990s when he was Archbishop of Melbourne.  Dropped are the charges Cardinal Pell committed sexual offences at a cinema and chapel in the regional Victorian city of Ballarat in the 1970s, when he was a priest in that area. 

At least one of the complainants in the dropped charges group died and another demonstrated a cavalier attitude in court that the judge felt he no longer had credibility.