Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that he knew of clergy molesting children in the 1970s and did not take adequate action to address it.
ROME — Pope Francis on Wednesday paid tribute to Cardinal George Pell, who spent 404 days in solitary confinement in his native Australia before his child sex convictions were overturned, praising his diligence in reforming the Vatican’s finances and his faith “even in the hour of trial.”
“For many people, particularly of the Catholic faith, this will be a difficult day and I express my condolences to all those who are mourning today,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. He spent three years as prefect of the newly created Secretariat for the Economy, where he tried to impose international budgeting, accounting and transparency standards.
In the telegram, Francis praised Pell’s consistent dedication to the church “and particularly the diligent cooperation given to the Holy See in the context of its recent economic reform, of which he laid the foundation with determination and wisdom.” Pell and his supporters believed he was scapegoated for all the crimes of the Australian Catholic Church’s botched response to clergy sexual abuse. Victims and critics say he epitomized everything wrong with how the church has dealt with the problem, pointing in particular to a widely circulated photo of a young Pell accompanying a notorious abuser, Gerald Risdale, to court.
Even after he was acquitted of the Melbourne allegations, Pell’s reputation remained tarnished by the scandal and in particular his handling of other priests who abused children and his treatment of victims. Australian inquiries concluded that Pell created a victims’ compensation program mainly to limit the church’s liability, and that he aggressively tried to discourage victims from pursuing lawsuits.
“We now know it was one of the very worst places in Australia” for child sex crimes, Pell said at the time. Only in the last year, nearly a decade after Pell first announced that he had uncovered nearly 1 billion euros in unreported assets, has Francis ordered the secretariat of state’s entire financial portfolio moved into the Vatican’s centralized patrimony office for more professional management and accounting. following his release from prison in 2020, he had a well-publicized private audience with Francis.
Pell was born on June 8, 1941, the eldest of three children to a heavyweight champion boxer and publican also named George Pell, an Anglican. His mother Margaret Lillian was from an Irish Catholic family.
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Cardinal George Pell, a powerful but divisive figure within the Catholic Church, dies at 81Even after his acquittal on sex abuse charges in Australia, Pell's reputation remained tarnished by the scandal and his handling of other priests who abused children.
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Australian Cardinal George Pell, acquitted of child sexual assault, dead at 81Australian Cardinal George Pell, a leading Roman Catholic conservative and former top Vatican official who in 2020 was acquitted of sexual abuse allegations, died on Tuesday at the age of 81, his private secretary said.
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Australian Cardinal George Pell, acquitted of child sex abuse, dead at 81Australian Cardinal George Pell, a leading Roman Catholic conservative and former top Vatican official who in 2020 was acquitted of sexual abuse allegations, died on Tuesday at the age of 81, his private secretary said.
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Cardinal George Pell, convicted then acquitted of child sex abuse, dies at 81The sexual assault conviction of the Australian cleric, who was a top adviser to Pope Francis, was overturned after he spent more than a year in prison.
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