Too effective in Rome for his enemies’ liking

By Tess Livingstone
Australian
February 22, 2016

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/too-effective-in-rome-for-his-enemies-liking/news-story/8d4fdf4fe0952e5441ef2a9b7e360c5f

Plenty of people want George Pell to come unstuck. Chief among them are the Vatican old guard, the mafia and heavies whose money laundering, tax evasion and possibly worse will come to an abrupt halt if crucial reforms instigated by the cardinal, such as the professional auditing of all Vatican agencies, including the Vatican Bank, come into force in coming months.

It’s needed. The cardinal, 74, and his team have uncovered more than €1 billion ($1.5bn) in Vatican funds unaccounted for, busted a multi-million-euro rort centred on a children’s hospital funded by a Catholic charity and the Italian government and exposed millions in unexplained transactions. Crunch time is coming, and some in prominent Vatican positions want a return to the “old ways’’. As in Australia, where he injected energy into the church in Melbourne and Sydney, he has been too effective in Rome for his enemies’ liking.

Last week, Pell’s supporters and ideological opponents alike recognised the visceral hatred fermenting in the blogosphere, egged on by Tim Minchin’s tasteless warbling, had become a toxic, dangerous witch hunt of a kind rarely if ever seen in this country. Then, on Friday night, came the well-timed “bombshell’’. It’s not known who made the complaints reportedly being investigated by Victoria Police or who leaked the details. Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton should clarify the matter. Justice must be done and be seen to be done, the presumption of innocence afforded unless otherwise proven.

At least one supposed incident reportedly occurred at the Ballarat pool, where then Father Pell used to swim in summer. Claims that supposedly relate to his time as archbishop at the cathedral in Melbourne are also an utter mystery.

The notion Pell “groomed’’ young males between 1978 and 2001 — and got away with it — beggars belief.