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Initially there was no official information on the topic of the conversation. A video posted by the church’s media platform “Vatican News” showed how the pope warmly welcomed Pell, 79. The Italian daily “La Stampa” later quoted the cardinal as saying that the meeting went “very well.”
The Vatican had welcomed Pell’s acquittal
Pell was the former Vatican CFO and the world’s highest-ranking Catholic clergyman, who was convicted in the wake of abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. The Vatican welcomed his acquittal and representatives of the victims harshly criticized him.
The Australian has held senior positions in the Catholic Church for decades. In 2014, Pope Francis appointed him CFO of the Vatican, which placed Pell in third place in the hierarchy of the Papal States. After the allegations were known, Pell was expelled from the Pope’s advisory body.
Suspicion of financial scandal causes unrest in the Papal States
Francis is trying to bring more transparency to the sometimes opaque money flows in the Vatican and to clear up a real estate scandal. However, it is unclear whether Francis would ever entrust Pell with a major office in the Papal States.
In September, Francis withdrew his trust in Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who is seen as an internal opponent of Pell. The background should also have been financial issues. Becciu denied all the allegations. Due to the temporal proximity, the media speculates about possible connections to the meeting between Francis and Pell.
