VATICAN CITY
Global Pulse
Robert Mickens, Rome
February 27, 2015
Vatican City
The first stems from when he was Archbishop of Sydney where, as an Australian commission recently concluded, he bullied victims of clergy sex abuse. It was part of an unambiguous strategy to deter them and others from suing the Church.
The second is connected to his current Vatican position as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy where directors of the pension fund for papal employees “corrected” him for making erroneous claims about the solvency of their operation. It was a part of his increasingly blatant efforts to tighten his control over all financial matters at the Vatican.
For many people in Australia and in Rome these incidents have re-surfaced lingering questions about Cardinal Pell’s commitment to genuine transparency, accountability and credibility, foundational values that are becoming ever more scrutinized in the unfolding pontificate of Pope Francis.
The two controversies have also sounded new alarm bells in the ears of the Pope’s closest allies who are already well aware that, except in the area of financial management, the Australian cardinal is not an enthusiastic supporter of the change of tone and direction that Francis has tried to bring to the Vatican and the worldwide Church.
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