ROME
Sydney Morning Herald
March 4, 2016
Nick Miller
Europe Correspondent
Rome: A controversial figure at the centre of Rome’s “Vatileaks 2.0” scandal claims Cardinal George Pell influenced and hurried the work of a Vatican reform commission to secure himself a job in the Holy See, far from the royal commission dogging the church in Australia.
However the cardinal has denied that he sought the job in order to insulate himself from fallout of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
A spokesperson said Cardinal Pell’s “strong record of tackling incompetence, corruption and cover-up in Church life in Australia is precisely the reason he was asked to come to Rome to implement the Holy Father’s reforms”.
Francesca Chaouqui, who currently faces trial over the leaking of secret documents revealing mismanagement, waste and power struggles at the Vatican, spoke exclusively to Fairfax Media this week, while the cardinal faced royal commission questioning over the protection of paedophile Catholic priests in Victoria.
Ms Chaouqui – dubbed “the Pope’s lobbyist” and attacked as “the sexy bombshell that embarrasses the Vatican” in the Italian press – was a member of the Vatican reform commission COSEA, established by Pope Francis in mid-2013.
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