George Pell’s ‘old foe’ accused of using Vatican funds to rig trial

Описание: A senior Catholic cardinal has been accused of using Vatican funds to influence the now overturned child sex abuse conviction of Cardinal George Pell.

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu was last month sacked from his position at the helm of the Holy See’s department responsible for making saints as Vatican investigators probed his spending record.

Today, fresh allegations have surfaced in Italian papers, La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, accusing Cardinal Becciu of wiring $1.1 million to contacts in Australia to influence the Pell trial.

The allegations, according to the Times of London, centre around a feud between the two senior cardinals stemming from Cardinal Pell’s attempts to stamp out “opaque accounting”.

“Before he returned to Australia in 2017 where he was tried, jailed and acquitted on appeal, Cardinal Pell, 79, served as finance minister at the Vatican, where his attempts to clean up opaque accounting were opposed by Cardinal Becciu,” the Times reported this morning.

“Cardinal Becciu’s clash with Cardinal Pell came to a head in 2016 when the Australian ordered an audit of Vatican finances by an external accountancy firm.

“Soon after it was launched Cardinal Becciu overruled Cardinal Pell and blocked the audit.”

Sky News host Andrew Bolt said while Carinal Becciu was a “great foe” of Cardinal Pell, it was important to note that no financial documents detailing the alleged $1.1 million payment to Australia had publicly been released.

“We’ve got to be fair here, Cardinal Becciu has insisted that he’s done nothing wrong (and that) he interfered with no trial in Australia,” Mr Bolt said.