BishopAccountability.org
 
 

George Pell : Absent Cardinal Leaves Power Vacuum at the Vatican

By Nick Miller
Sydney Morning Herald
June 29, 2017

http://www.smh.com.au/national/absent-pell-leaves-power-vacuum-at-the-vatican-20170629-gx1fgs.html

It was the feast of St Peter and St Paul in Rome, a day of celebration, worship – and, for many Romans, an afternoon at the beach.

By ancient tradition, the devout were expected to be up all the previous night remembering the church's martyrs.

In the early hours of the morning, Cardinal Pell received the news he had been expecting: he had been charged on summons by Victorian Police with multiple historic sex offences.

There was no arrest, no knock on his door from the Italian police (Pell lives in an apartment just outside the walls of Vatican City, around the corner from St Peter's).

Indeed, there was no sign of movement at his home at all – though he was home.

As the sun rose a queue began to form across the road: nuns, tourists, the faithful and the curious queuing to go through metal detectors into St Peter's Square facing the basilica. Vatican workers were hard at work setting up for the afternoon Mass.

Cardinal Pell had been expected to attend. He would not.

Instead, he announced a morning press conference at the building facing the basilica, the press office of the Holy See.

Cardinal Pell addresses the media at the Vatican. Photo: AP

Through his Sydney office, he had already announced he would return to Australia "as soon as possible to clear his name" – pending the approval of his doctors.

"He is looking forward to his day in court," the statement said.

Pope Francis signs a cricket bat he received from Cardinal George Pell in 2015. Photo: AP

In person, at the press conference, Pell was emphatic. Leaning forward, he read from a prepared statement.

He departed from the text in one significant way: through repetition.

"There has been relentless character assassination. Relentless character assassination."

And: "News of these charges strengthens my resolve. Strengthens my resolve."

Blinking rarely, Pell eyeballed the reporters in the room, his expression unreadable. He glanced down rarely – clearly he knew its contents almost by heart.

His tone was forceful, even angry. He would clear his name and return "here back to Rome to work".

But a statement from the Pope, read afterwards by Greg Burke, director of the Vatican press office, as Pell sat beside him, was more ambiguous.

Pell had been "granted a leave of absence" to defend himself. There was no announcement of a replacement at the Secretariat for the Economy, even a temporary one.

But there was no definitive statement that Pell would return, should he be acquitted, to the same role at the Secretariat for the Economy, nor the Council of Cardinals who are Pope Francis' closest advisers.

Regardless of the result of the trial, the charges against Pell are a serious blow to Francis.

Since he arrived at the Vatican, Francis has been trying to shine light into dark corners of an institution racked by scandal, beset by corruption allegations and constant power struggles between its various fiefdoms and ministries.

In 2014 Francis appointed Cardinal Pell to the newly created position of Prefect for the Economy.

His job was to bring the Vatican finances under control and into the light: not just the notorious Vatican Bank, alleged to be a conduit for money laundering, but a wider chaotic web of expense accounts and departmental budgets.

Pell sits on the small Council of Cardinals: an informal group that Francis trusts to guide him in his reform work.

Some in the Vatican will be quietly celebrating Pell's situation, said Austen Ivereigh, contributing editor at the Catholic news site Cruxnow and author of a biography on Pope Francis.

"This is a massive blow to the Vatican and particularly to Pope Francis' reform project because Cardinal Pell is an absolutely key figure," Ivereigh told Fairfax Media.

Pell was key to the Pope's efforts to reform Vatican finances because as an outsider he did not respect the Vatican old guard or the "Curial [Vatican administration] culture".

"From the word go his style - abrasive, determined, no-nonsense - has been seen as essential in driving past the resistance which there's been to a lot of the financial reform."

But it has also created enemies.

"There will be in Rome today many people delighted that Pell will no longer be on the scene. He has rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way, partly because of his abrasive manner but partly also because he is challenging long-entrenched interests which have long benefited from being in the dark.

"His reforms have made them feel very exposed."

It is likely to be some time before Pell comes to trial. Though the Vatican has not named a replacement, and described Pell as being granted a leave of absence, over the next few months it would become clear who in practice would do his job, Ivereigh said.

Pell was only certain to return to his old job if he was quickly cleared of the charges.

"If this is going to be a long, complicated case, how can the Secretariat for the Economy just simply carry on without him? That's the real question people are asking this morning."

Though the common "number three in the Vatican" shorthand is a fiction, there are few in the church who wield more official authority or practical power than Pell.

But even before his appointment to the finance role he was under attack from those who resist reform, for reasons of principle or self-interest.

Even as he dug up "buried treasures" for his spreadsheets, and tried to get a full audit completed, his opponents moved to contain him.

Absent from his post, with his authority and influence drained, Pell may be powerless to prevent the diminution or dilution of his role.

And Francis has lost, at least temporarily, one of his closest and most useful allies in his push to sweep a broom through this ancient organisation.

 

 

 

 

 




.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.