VATICAN CITY
Financial Times
Rachel Sanderson and James Politi in Vatican City
Cardinal George Pell’s short tenure as the Vatican’s financial tsar has been far from serene.
In an environment known for palace intrigue, he has had to stare down fierce resistance from within the Curia, the mostly Italian Vatican bureaucracy, as he undertakes the daunting task of trying to clean up the Catholic Church’s murky finances.
Seventeen months into the job, Cardinal Pell admits to “small pockets of significant opposition” in a closed world that has long resisted reform.
“[For] people who are used to being totally autonomous, they were not used to telling people anything at all. It can be a little bit sensitive,” he explains.
Still, the 74-year-old Australian believes that the Church has turned the corner in an overhaul begun under Pope Benedict but accelerated under Pope Francis, who has made financial probity a touchpoint of his papacy.
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