INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Cardinal Pell photographed with Pope Francis in 2015 - he was a close aide to
the pontiff
Last weekend's unprecedented Vatican summit on child sexual abuse was closed with a Sunday homily by
weakest and most vulnerable."He could have been describing his fellow countryman, Cardinal George Pell, for there are few as powerful to
have fallen from grace within the Roman Catholic Church
Pell is certainly the most senior churchman to have been convicted of offences against children.'Cardinal Rambo'Pell was appointed by the
Pope as Prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy, which effectively runs the Vatican's voluminous finances
Following his appointment, he relocated to Rome from Australia, where he had been the Archbishop of Sydney since 2001.Pell, who began a
five-year term in 2014 with offices on the first floor of the Apostolic Palace, quickly set about introducing new accounting standards,
established the Holy See's financial watchdog to deal with suspicious transactions, and ensured that the Vatican Bank's accounts were
A bullish figure who faced plenty of obstruction, he was known among some officials as "Cardinal Rambo"
child sexual abuse is a grave blow not just to the church, but also to Pope Francis personally
He was one of the Pope's closest aides.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Pell was appointed to oversee the
Vatican's finances in 2014
He was not only leading the crucial reform of the church's sprawling finances, but was also
appointed by Francis to his nine-member Council of Cardinal Advisors, known as the C9
It was the C9 that encouraged Pope Francis to host this first-ever summit on child sexual abuse
But that was just one of many Vatican departments in which Pell played a significant role
Poison from top to bottomCardinal Pell was a member of the Congregation of Bishops, the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, the
Congregation for the Institutes of the Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of
the New Evangelisation.His conviction confirms that the poison of sexual abuse has infected every level of the Roman Catholic Church
Back in 2012, then Prime Minister Julia Gillard established a Royal Commission to inquire into institutional responses to child abuse in
Australia.It found that 7% of priests in Australia had abused children.The charges against Pell emerged from Australia's rigorous inquiry
this 77-year-old ambitious Cardinal will swap the Apostolic Palace for a jail cell.And in a final turn of providence, or coincidence, it
won't even be necessary for Pope Francis to fire Cardinal Pell from office.His five-year term as Prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy
