Cardinal George Pell to return to Vatican for first time since being cleared of child sex abuse allegations

Cardinal George Pell will return to the Vatican tomorrow — for the first time since he was cleared of child sex abuse allegations five months ago. His return follows Pope Francis last week firing one of the cardinal’s most powerful opponents, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, over a financial scandal. CathNews, an information agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, said tonight that Cardinal Pell would fly to Rome tomorrow. Cardinal Pell was regarded as the third highest ranking Vatican official and was attempting to wrestle the Holy See’s opaque finances into order when he returned to Australia in 2017 to clear himself of decades-old allegations of child sex abuse. Instead, he became the most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex abuse crimes. He served 13 months in prison before the High Court in April acquitted him of molesting two choirboys in the late 1990s when he was archbishop of Melbourne. In his first television interview after his release, Cardinal Pell linked his fight against Vatican corruption with his prosecution in Australia. The Sydney Archdiocese did not respond to a request for comment on Cardinal Pell’s travel plans and a woman who answered the phone at the Sydney seminary where he lives said: “We have no comment”. In the TV interview, Cardinal Pell said that he did not have evidence of a link but he suspected that a man who swore he had been sexually abused by him as a 13-year-old choirboy had been “used”. Cardinal Pell again seemed to hint at a link in a statement last week in which he “thanked and congratulated” Pope Francis for firing Cardinal Becciu. “I hope the cleaning of the stables continues in both the Vatican and Victoria,” Cardinal Pell said, referring to his home State of Victoria where he was convicted. Cardinal Pell, 79, said in April that he planned to return to Rome when the coronavirus pandemic allowed him to pack up his apartment. But he intended to make Sydney his home. Cardinal Becciu, 72, said that he was fired after Pope Francis told him that documents from the Italian financial police alleged that he had embezzled 100,000 euros ($116,200). Cardinal Becciu, the former No.2 in the Vatican’s secretariat of state, denied any wrongdoing. His name had previously been caught up in a whirlwind financial scandal involving the Holy See’s investment in a London real estate venture. But Cardinal Becciu said that investment was not raised in his conversation with Pope Francis.