Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Pell ‘blocked’ from Vatican post: Reports

Australian Cardinal George Pell, whose appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops was expected soon, has been dropped from consideration because of former abuse allegations against him, Rome sources say.

Cardinal Pell stood down as Archbishop of Sydney in 2002 after he was accused of abusing a teenager at a church camp in the 1960s, but an independent investigation by a retired non-Catholic judge cleared him, The Age reports.

Last month, Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli wrote in Il Giornale that Cardinal Pell had been approved to head the bishops congregation.

But now, according to Tornielli, Cardinal Pell has declined the post and “everything seems to be in doubt”.

He said the Vatican was quoting age and health reasons but the Pope might still try to persuade Cardinal Pell to take the post.

However, another well-informed journalist, Marco Tosatto, wrote on his blog that the health reasons were a diplomatic veil.

“Pell was blocked by elements in the Vatican because of the abuse allegations against him from the early 1960s,” he said.

According to Tosatto, the fear in the Vatican was that appointing someone to the Congregation for Bishops who had been accused in the past, even if cleared, created the danger of a civil case being brought against him because he was such a high-ranking church official.

Questions were also being asked in the Vatican about the desirability of appointing a non-Italian, particularly someone from the Anglo-Saxon world, perceived as suffering from a scourge of abuse that is worse than elsewhere, he wrote.

SIC: CTHAS