A Facebook reminder from 2008 popped up in my husband’s newsfeed last week. It was a photo from World Youth Day in Sydney. He sent me the link with a note, “Hard to believe that this was just eight years ago.” Just eight years ago, Australia’s Cardinal George Pell walked the streets of Sydney unencumbered, Read more
Withhold judgement, said Pope Francis to the press. He was referring to reports that senior Vatican official Cardinal George Pell had inappropriate sexual contact with minors in the past. He said allegations against the prelate are still being investigated by Australian authorities. In a short press conference aboard the papal flight back from Poland Sunday, Read more
Vatican Bank board members have been called out by Greenpeace because of their links to the fossil fuel sector. According to a Greenpeace Energydesk investigation, Vatican Bank board member Sir Michael Hintze is the chief executive of the private hedge fund CQS Cayman, registered on the Cayman islands. The fund holds stocks worth $8.3 million Read more
Australian Cardinal George Pell has vigorously rejected allegations of sexual abuse. Pell, who is who is the Vatican’s top financial officer, says the allegations amount to a “scandalous smear campaign”. According to a program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) network, Pell faces accusations from the Australian cities of Ballarat, Torquay and Melbourne dating from the Read more
In the space of a week, Pope Francis reduced the responsibilities of Cardinal George Pell and rebuffed an initiative by Cardinal Robert Sarah. … Pope Francis [also] did a pretty good number on Australian Cardinal George Pell by once more drastically reducing his powers as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy (SFE). The pope Read more
The papacy only gained complete power over the appointment of bishops in the mid-19th century; it’s that recent. Previously many different systems operated, but the key issue was that the local church had a major say in who was appointed bishop, even if it was only the local lord or king. Nowadays episcopal appointments result Read more
The Pope has clipped Cardinal George Pell’s wings by removing some of the administrative functions done by his department. Pope Francis essentially reversed a 2014 law that had transferred the main operational section of the patrimony office to the Australian cardinal’s Secretariat for the Economy as of Saturday. Francis said he is removing the tasks because Read more
Pope Francis has appointed Fr Richard Umbers to be an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Sydney. Originally from Papatoetoe in Auckland, New Zealand Umbers was ordained a priest by Bishop Javier Echevarría, Prelate of Opus Dei. He has served as a priest in Sydney for the past 13 years. Umbers is one of two Read more
Cardinal George Pell says the “full implementation” of financial reforms at the Vatican will take time. Cardinal Pell gave a statement to The Tablet in the wake of the Holy See announcing that a full audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers would not take place. Instead, PwC will assist an internal auditor-general with the work. The cardinal is Read more
The Vatican has cancelled the first full external audit of its finances, which was to have been done by a global accounting firm. The Vatican announced last week that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) would no longer be responsible for the audit. Instead it will be performed by the Holy See’s Auditor General. In a statement, the Vatican Read more