Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has led the government on the Pacific island nation since 1998 and is one of its most prominent Catholics in public life.
Samoa, a Polynesian island of nearly 200,000 people near the U.S. territory of American Samoa, is highly dependent on trade with Australia.
In December, Pell was convicted of abusing two choir boys in the 1990s when he was Archbishop of Melbourne. He has strenuously denied the accusations and plans on appealing the conviction.
