By Wayne Flower, Melbourne Correspondent08:56 05 Oct 2020, updated 08:56 05 Oct 2020
Former cardinal has been accused of using Vatican funds to bribe witnesses
Giovanni Angelo Becciu is suspected of wiring the cash to recipients in Australia
Cardinal Becciu issued a strongly worded denial of the reports in Italian paper
Cardinal Pell was accused of molesting choir boys in Melbourne in the 1990s
Cardinal Pell returned to Rome last month after 13 months in jail and acquittal
A former cardinal has denied using £600,000 of Vatican funds to bribe witnesses and secure a sex abuse conviction against Cardinal George Pell.
Cardinal Pell spent more than 400 days behind bars after being convicted of abusing two 13-year-old choir boys in the 1990s, before the verdict was overturned on appeal.
Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who last month was accused by the Vatican of misusing funds, was reportedly a strong rival of Cardinal Pell at the time he was brought to trial.
Cardinal Pell had served as finance minister at the Vatican, where he was tasked with cleaning up the Catholic Church’s accounting practices.
Pope Francis appoints Giovanni Angelo Becciu as Cardinal during a consistory ceremony to create 14 new cardinals at St. Peters Basilica in 2018 in Vatican City.
Cardinal George Pell is escorted in handcuffs from the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on August 21, 2019.
Cardinal George Pell arrives at his residence in Rome, Italy, on September 30
In explosive allegations appearing in the Italian press, it was reported Cardinal Becciu was suspected of wiring the cash to recipients in Australia who helped to ensure hostile testimony against Cardinal Pell at his County Court of Victoria trial.
Cardinal Becciu has strongly denied the reports, stating: ‘I categorically deny interfering in any way in the trial of Cardinal Pell’.
The Italian newspapers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera reported Vatican investigators suspected that Cardinal Becciu hoped to stop Pell from exposing his allegedly corrupt management of Vatican cash.
Cardinal Becciu resigned last month amid accusations he misappropriated Catholic funds while working as the deputy secretary of state between 2011 and 2018.
Among a raft of suspicions – all denied by Cardinal Becciu – are claims he may have funnelled Vatican cash to charities and businesses run by his three brothers.
Cardinal Becciu’s supposed feud with Cardinal Pell goes back to 2016 when Pell ordered an audit of Vatican finances by an external accountancy firm.
Cardinal George Pell returned to Rome last month after spending more than 400 days in jailCardinal George Pell is seen having dinner on October 4 in Vatican CityCardinal George Pell waves as he arrives at Rome’s international airport in Fiumicino last month
That audit was quickly blocked by Cardinal Becciu.
The Corriere della Sera report alleged Cardinal Becciu often used journalists and contacts to discredit his rivals.
‘It is precisely in this vein that the payment in Australia would have been made, possibly in connection with Pell’s trial,’ the article claimed.
The former choirboy who accused Cardinal Pell of abuse has denied any knowledge of bribes allegedly being paid to witnesses against Pell.
PAT SAYS
I have always said that I believed the men who were interviewed from Balarat about their childhood abuse by Fr Pell.
With regard the choir boys I have never seen them interviewed.
In any event the courts have decided that Pell is not guilty of what he was charged with.
If the allegations above are proven then it will quite clear that Pell was set up by Vatican bastardos like Becciu.
This would be a most serious matter and would require Becciu dismissed from the clerical state and put on trial for matters like conspiracy to interfere with the course of justice.
He should be tried for this in Australia and suffer the consequences.
If Cardinal Pell was shown to be totally innocent and a true victim of a conspiracy I personally would feel morally obliged to write to him and apologise for my misjudgement of him.
We await the outcome of the Becciu investigations.
NEW RESIDENT AT THE ORATORY
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 