AUSTRALIA
The Courier
Melissa Cunningham
May 3, 2016
Pope Francis has confirmed Ballarat born Cardinal George Pell will stay on as the Vatican’s top financial official until at least 2019, despite mounting speculation he would step down after his 75th birthday next month.
Cardinal Pell faced has intense scrutiny across the world for both his role in the Vatican’s financial reform and his response to allegations of child sexual abuse cases as a priest and bishop in Ballarat and Melbourne.
The news reportedly came in a statement from Cardinal Pell’s office in Rome this week.
It followed a visit last week by Pope Francis to the offices of the Secretariat for the Economy, which is the Vatican’s new lead agency for financial administration.
Reports following the visit outlined Cardinal Pell still had Pope Francis’s full support.
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