Australian Cardinal George Pell holds a copy of his book, "Prison Journal," during an interview with Catholic News Service at his residence in Rome Dec. 18, 2020. (CNS photo/Robert Duncan) Editor’s note:You can read Part 1 of this column here. In 2014, the newly elected Pope Francis decided to improve the state of the Vatican’s finances. He appointed the Australian cardinal George Pell (1941-2023) to be the first prefect of his new Secretariat for the Economy. Pell was seen as the sort of no-nonsense, thorough, and intelligent cardinal who could corral other cardinals into cleaning up their mess. Pell ordered audits, established policy guidelines, and began to investigate the financial affairs of different Vatican offices. One would think that simply trying to introduce transparency into the Vatican finances would be non-controversial. One would be wrong. Just as Pell began to uncover problems, a series of child sexual abuse charges from Australia were leveled at Pell in 2017. While …
"Exactly when he was investigating financial improprieties in the Vatican, he was forced to leave Rome and face trial on charges that are so weak as to be barely believable."