The legal bill for Cardinal George Pell to defend sex crime charges amounted to A$3m (NZ$3.2m). The charges were eventually thrown out by the High Court. Pell confirmed there was still a “significant” amount of money to be paid, despite having walked free more than a year ago. Cardinal Pell’s legal team initially applied for Read more
An Australian court on Friday ordered a dozen media firms to pay a total of A$1.1 million ($842,000) in fines for breaching a suppression order on reporting the conviction, since overturned, of former Vatican treasurer George Pell for child sexual assault. The 12 media outlets, mostly owned by Nine Entertainment Co and Rupert Murdoch’s News Read more
Cardinal George Pell turned 80 years old on Tuesday, losing his eligibility to vote in a future papal conclave. The Australian was made a cardinal by St. Pope John Paul II in October 2003, while he was archbishop of Sydney. Ten years later, Pope Francis appointed Pell a member of his Council of Cardinals, and Read more
Italian Cardinal, Camillo Ruini acknowledges there is a risk of schism in Germany over same-sex unions, however, he is hoping and praying it will not eventuate. “I hope with all my heart that there will not be any schism, and I pray for this,” Ruini told the Il Foglio newspaper. His comments come in response Read more
The Vatican needs clear rules to govern the status of popes who resign in the future, according to Cardinal George Pell, a leading Roman Catholic conservative. Pell is one of the highest-ranking Church figures to speak publicly on the need for these new rules. The situation became an issue in 2013 when Pope Benedict, 93, Read more
Cardinal George Pell has spoken of his surprise at the apparent extent of ‘criminality’ involved in recent Vatican financial scandals. “I didn’t know that there was so much criminality involved,” Pell said. He was speaking to the AP before the Dec. 15 release of the first volume of his jailhouse memoir, ‘Prison Journal.’ The book Read more
An Australian anti-corruption agency said it was not investigating speculation about the transfer of Vatican funds to Australia in the Cardinal Pell case. The anti-corruption agency statement contradicts Italian media speculation that the money might be linked to the overturned convictions of Cardinal George Pell for child sex abuse. Last month, several Italian newspapers reported Read more
The Australian Federal Police is looking for evidence that money transfers from the Vactican came to Australia in an attempt to influence the case against Cardinal George Pell. AUSTRAC, the Australian Government agency responsible for detecting, deterring and disrupting criminal abuse of the financial system to protect the community from serious and organised crime is Read more
After having been freed from jail in April when Australia’s High Court ruled unanimously he never should have been convicted of child sexual abuse in the first place, and after watching his erstwhile Vatican archenemy not just fall but plummet from grace last month, Cardinal George Pell completed his comeback tour Oct. 12 with a Read more
Pope Francis welcomed Cardinal George Pell to the Vatican for the first time since the Australian cardinal’s conviction for child sexual abuse was overturned. The pair met in a private audience without masks. In greeting Pell, Francis thanked him for his witness. The meeting was confirmed in the Holy See’s daily bulletin. The Vatican released Read more