Triumphant Pell returns to the Vatican amid financial scandal

A triumphant George Pell heads back to the Vatican this week to face enemies who hoped he’d rot in jail. But the shoe’s on the other foot this time, writes Andrew Bolt.

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On Tuesday George Pell flies back to Rome, a challenge to powerful enemies now caught in the Vatican’s worst financial scandal in decades.

Those enemies hoped Cardinal Pell, the Vatican’s former corruption buster, would rot in an Australian jail on suspiciously false charges of child sexual abuse.

But Pell returns in triumph, and it’s his nemesis, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who could now face jail instead.

And once again, former Vatican officials ask: is there a connection to this scandal and Pell’s legal nightmare in Australia?

Pell was the Vatican’s fourth most powerful man, overseeing church finances, until Victoria Police charged him in 2017 with 26 charges of sexual abuse against nine different “victims”.

Pell stepped down and returned to Australia in July 2017 to clear his name, only to spend 405 days in jail for a crime he could not have committed.

For some at the Vatican, having Pell disappear was extremely convenient.

He’d been leading an audit of Vatican finances and uncovered extensive corruption, possibly involving even the Mafia.

Pell warned Pope Francis, adding: beware of Becciu, second in charge of the Secretariat of State.

Pell was alarmed by one of Becciu’s property deals – a luxury development in London, bought with loans from a Swiss bank with a record of violating money-laundering and fraud safeguards.

Becciu apparently tried to disguise those loans by cancelling them out against the property’s value.

Other Becciu deals also looked weird, including financial transfers to buy an Italian hospital that then collapsed, riddled with theft and fraud, leaving an astonishing $1.3 billion debt.

Becciu had even placed his niece as the secretary to the church’s representative at the hospital. He’s also accused of steering other Vatican business to his three brothers.

Becciu fought back. In 2016, he unilaterally cancelled an external audit of Vatican departments commissioned by Pell.

Pell asked the Pope to back him up, but Francis refused.

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Pell was now running out of time. Victoria Police had advertised for “victims” who had been assaulted at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral when Pell was Archbishop.

That trawling worked: alleged victims did come forward. All complaints were inherently implausible. All failed.

But one went further than the rest. A man whose name is still suppressed claimed Pell in 1996 sexually assaulted him and a fellow chorister at the same time in the Cathedral after Mass.

The story was absurd. The other supposed victim, since dead, told his parents he wasn’t abused, and the evidence showed neither Pell nor his accuser could have been at the scene of the crime at the only time it could have happened.

But this still kept Pell away from the Vatican for three years and in jail for one until the High Court in April quashed his sentence.

Becciu made use of the time. In the same month that police said they’d charge Pell, Becciu fired the Vatican’s first-ever auditor general, Libero Milone, accusing him of “spying” on him and threatening criminal charges if Milone didn’t go quietly.

But now Pell is free and Becciu has fallen.

Becciu, who’d become head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, was last week forced to resign over financial irregularities.

The Pope said Becciu also resigned his rights as a Cardinal, apparently including the right to vote.

This last time a Cardinal was demoted like this was in 2015, when Scotland’s Keith O’Brien was punished for sexually harassing young priests.

Becciu last week vowed to prove his innocence, but now Pell returns, ostensibly to empty his Vatican apartment.

The Pope has not offered him a job, but many cardinals think Pell may have been right and the Pope should have backed him.

The Pope’s authority has been rocked, and it would make sense to show he’s serious about fighting corruption by giving Pell some role.

Pell, though, does not seem keen on any big job. He’s 79, and told me recently his only ambition now is to plant roses.

All he’s said publicly about Becciu’s sacking is that the Pope was “elected to clean up Vatican finances” and “is to be thanked and congratulated on recent developments”.

He added: “The cleaning of the stables continues in both the Vatican and Victoria.” He’s hinting this scandal may be linked to his persecution in Victoria.

Pell may not want any new role, but his church calls. His Pope is weak.

It is the time for all good men in the Vatican to step up. And Pell – for all the attempts to destroy him in Melbourne – is one of those good.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-bolt/andrew-bolt-triumphant-pell-returns-to-the-vatican-amid-financial-scandal/news-story/4b063f7c50409175f79d8cf6d9b856d5