Cardinal Pell returns to Rome for first time since acquittal
SYDNEY – Australian Catholic Cardinal George Pell is returning to Rome on Tuesday (29), six months after he was acquitted of child sex abuse convictions, according to news agency reports.
The 79-year-old former Vatican finance chief was set to leave Sydney on Tuesday to return to the Vatican for the first time since 2017, the Catholic News Agency reported.
Pell was handed a six-year jail sentence in 2018 for sexually assaulting two choirboys at a Melbourne Cathedral in 1996.
He was the highest-ranking Roman Catholic to be convicted of child sexual abuse.
Pell served just one year of his sentence before the High Court of Australia overturned his conviction in April.
He has been living in his former Archdiocese of Sydney since his release.
There is speculation about the reasons for Pell’s reported return to Rome.
His trip comes days after a scandal involving Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who dramatically resigned from his top position in the Vatican’s sainthood cases department after Pope Francis accused him of embezzlement.
Pell, who has clashed with Becciu in the past, celebrated the downfall of his former foe.
“The Holy Father was elected to clean up Vatican finances. He plays a long game and is to be thanked and congratulated on recent developments,” Pell said in a statement to the Catholic News Agency on Friday (25).
The Guardian Australia reported Tuesday that a source in Rome said that Pell could be visiting an educational institution in the city.
Pell held the position of the Vatican’s Secretariat of the Economy from 2014, taking a leave of absence to return to Australia in 2017 to face child sexual abuse charges.
-dpa