Our man in the Vatican

By Tess Livingstone
Australian
February 26, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/our-man-in-the-vatican/story-e6frg6z6-1226837602426#

TESS LIVINGSTONE THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 26, 2014

HIS appointment as Prefect for the Economy for the Holy See and the Vatican signed and sealed on Monday, George Pell and a couple of close friends sat down at a restaurant near Domus Australia to celebrate with cotoletta milanese and a good drop of vino.

The appointment was a rare achievement. Pell, who is now on the same level as Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, now ranks second in the Vatican behind Pope Francis. No Australian churchman has risen to such authority before. Retired cardinal Edward Cassidy, 89, served as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in the 1980s and 90s. And James Knox, a former archbishop of Melbourne, headed the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments in the 70s and 80s.

Pell has loved Rome since he first arrived there in September 1963 to complete his training for the priesthood at the Pontifical Urban University, where the most promising students from their local seminaries were drawn from all nations.

Almost 50 years after his ordination in St Peter’s Basilica in 1966, and after a career spanning parish work, university and seminary leadership and 18 years at the helm of Australia’s two largest archdioceses, Pell had no trouble on Monday nominating his proudest achievements: “The young priests and the new RE (religious education) program” he told The Australian, without a moment’s hesitation.