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Australian Cardinal George Pell was reportedly due to return to Rome tomorrow for the first time since he was acquitted of sexual abuse charges, just days after a known Vatican rival was toppled.
Pell, 79, a high-powered former Vatican treasurer tasked by Pope Francis with cleaning up the Vatican’s finances, spent more than a year in prison before being acquitted and released by the High Court of Australia in April.
He has not returned to Rome since he left in mid-2017 to face charges for assaulting two choir boys in the late 1990s.
His scheduled return comes less than a week after the downfall of influential Italian cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was ousted by Pope Francis on Thursday following charges of embezzlement and nepotism.
Cardinal Becciu, 72, and six other people are at risk of being tried in the Vatican on corruption charges, according to the daily Repubblica.
Cardinal Pell was quick to issue a statement thanking and congratulating the Pope after the forced resignation of Cardinal Becciu.
CathNews, a website for the Australian Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that “sources close to Cardinal Pell” had confirmed that the prelate, who has been living in his archdiocese of Sydney since his acquittal, was returning to the Italian capital.
The Catholic News Agency said that tomorrow he will leave for Rome.
Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Pell in 2014 as an anti-corruption czar in the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy. He quickly ruffled many feathers.
“In the months leading up to his departure (to Australia) … Pell had a big deal with Becciu. The heart of the matter was two different visions of how Peter’s Pence should be managed,” said Messaggero expert Franca Giansoldati .
Peter’s Pence is an annual collection that takes place around the world and is intended for the poor.
Yesterday, the investigative weekly L’Espresso reported that Cardinal Becciu gave financier Enrico Crasso, a former manager of Credit Suisse, control of millions of euros of Vatican investment funds, including Peter’s Pence.
Cardinal Becciu has been linked in particular to a controversial luxury property investment deal in London, with at least some of the money used coming from Peter’s Pence.
Crasso also manages an investment fund, Centurion Global Fund, with ties to Swiss banks that are being investigated for money laundering scandals, according to the weekly.
The Vatican invested millions of euros in that fund, which lost money, while Crasso and others made millions in fees, the Catholic News Agency said.
Pope Francis’ surprising decision to not only force Cardinal Becciu to resign, but also strip him of the rights associated with being a cardinal, a very rare punishment, came just before a new Moneyval review, according to the Stampa newspaper.
The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering watchdog, expected at the Vatican this week, is expected to rule on whether the Vatican has reformed its finances enough to enter a “white list” of states that respect the laws. international fraud rules.
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