On the Catholic Beat
The Associated Press is reporting that the Australian man who accused Cardinal George Pell of sexually abusing him when he was an altar boy in the 1990s says he was not bribed for his testimony.
The man’s denial is the latest development in the convoluted saga related to ousted Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who is under suspicion for his alleged role in a shady London real estate deal involving Vatican finances. Cardinal Becciu – who was removed from his Vatican post last month by Pope Francis – has denied all wrongdoing.
Some reports in the Italian media intimated that the cardinal is suspected of wiring money from a Vatican account to Australia while Cardinal Pell was facing his 2018 trial on charges that he sexually abused two altar boys while he was the archbishop of Melbourne.
The newspaper Corriere della Serra speculated that Becciu might have “bought” the testimony of Pell’s accuser to get the Australian churchman out of the Vatican. Becciu and Pell reportedly clashed over Pell’s reforms to clean up the Vatican’s finances. The belief that Pell’s enemies in Rome had something to do with his 2018 conviction in Australia has long been a suspicion among Pell’s conservative supporters. Last year, the Australian Supreme Court overturned Pell’s conviction on grounds that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the verdict.
However, the Associated Press notes that the Corriere report “had no sourcing, attribution or details and the report appeared more an effort to discredit Becciu and distract attention from the shortcomings of the Vatican prosecutors’ primary investigation into a London real estate venture.”
The Telegraph reported this week that Cardinal Becciu is further accused “of funneling €500,000 to an Italian woman who spent some of the cash on luxury shoes, handbags and accessories.” The cardinal has denied all wrongdoing in relation to the latest claims.
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