Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The sexual abuse case brought against Cardinal George Pell connects across Australian jurisdictions, but it begins and ends in the Vatican. If the story were a crime novel or a thriller, it would make for gripping reading indeed. But it is not a novel. I will tell this story to place it on our nation's record, in the hope that these events might never be repeated.

Many strongly believe that an innocent man was jailed for over a year. A cardinal of the Catholic Church was smeared with the obvious intent of attacking the entire institution for the principles that it holds and that he defended. They also believe that corruption within the church, within the state and within human hearts accused him of a crime which he had not and could not have committed. In the eyes of many, Pell was defamed, maligned and personally and professionally destroyed. They fear our legal systems, including police and the lower judiciary, are implicated in succumbing to manipulation by the media—especially the ABC, which whipped up the case against him and kept public opinion focused on one side of the story. The coronavirus shutdown delayed justice even further.

For many, this story needs to be told because the proper response to calumny is to attempt reparation, as difficult as that can be, and because the average Australian has been left with confusion as to the particulars of the case and, in general, with a sense that public and especially judicial figures are not trustworthy. In subsequent speeches, I plan to lay out the details of this affair. We need to see that separate entities led a concerted attack against religion, conservative principles and the natural law by attacking the figure of Pell and the church to which he dedicated his life.

The saying goes that it is never easier to hide than in plain sight. Much of the evidence that absolved Pell, who was ultimately unanimously vindicated by the highest court in the land, was right before our eyes. But it suited our nation to sacrifice this man for their cause. Pell reflects the most biblical of figures, the scapegoat—he who carried out the dictum that it is better for one man to suffer for the multitude. The question now becomes: is it time for a collective examination of conscience? Should we as individuals, as men and women of good will, as a nation, now ask ourselves: how did we let this happen? For if nearly universal abandonment of the rule of law can happen to one man, it can happen to any of us.

Pell was born in Ballarat, Victoria, on 8 June 1941. He rose from humble beginnings—an ordinary family, a publican's son—to become the third-most powerful man in the Vatican. He attended St Patrick's College as a dayboy and was drafted to the Richmond football squad. Soon after matriculation, he left his hometown to join the Catholic seminary at Werribee. Sent to Rome to complete his studies, he was ordained there in December 1966. After obtaining a doctorate of philosophy at Oxford university he returned to his home diocese of Ballarat, where he had numerous priestly appointments before becoming director of Aquinas College, now part of the Australian Catholic University, and then obtained a master's in education.

In 1985 Pell was appointed Rector of Corpus Christi College at Clayton, the provincial seminary for Victoria, where he began some small efforts at reform, which, because of his conservative approach, were not universally welcomed by staff or students—a precursor to later opposition to him which would come from within clerical and lay Catholic circles. In 1987 he was nominated as auxiliary bishop of Melbourne, where he remained until he became archbishop in 1996. In 2001 he became the Archbishop of Sydney, and in 2003 he was created a cardinal.

In February 2014, shortly after his election to the papacy, with a mandate to clean up financial and other corruption in the Vatican, Pope Francis made Pell prefect of the newly created Secretariat for the Economy. Pell had been a member of the COSEA, a commission of economic experts created by Pope Francis 10 months earlier to examine the Vatican's financial situation. Whilst Pell was aware of issues, not even he could have imagined the extent of the impropriety, including that the then sostituto, or substitute, of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop, now Cardinal, Becciu, was implicated in misdeeds and cover-ups.

In July 2017, Pell voluntarily returned to Australia to face charges of child sex abuse. Legitimate questions about whether the charges were coincidental to Pell's mission at the Vatican are arising as evidence is emerging that payments totalling more than $2 million were made from an account held by the Vatican Secretariat of State to an Australian bank account. At least four payments have been reported which the AFP have confirmed involved 'actionable financial intelligence'. The transfer details given to the investigators include references to Cardinal Becciu. The first payment took place in February 2017, just as Victoria Police were sending their brief to the Office of Public Prosecutions. The second, in May 2017, occurred around the time of the prosecutor's response to the brief and the publication of the Milligan book. Another transfer was made in December 2017, at which time Pell was back in Australia after being charged. The fourth payment was in June 2018, just weeks prior to his first trial commencing. It also coincided with Becciu's time at the Secretariat of State coming to an end.

A few weeks ago, Becciu, the man who did everything he could to put a stop to Pell's work and who became his most determined rival, was sacked from his position amidst allegations of financial corruption, embezzlement and other crimes. Unfortunately, the true extent of this corruption is only now emerging, after Cardinal Pell has been fully exonerated.

Last Thursday evening there were more developments from the Vatican. It was announced that all the funds and assets of the Secretariat of State will be taken from it and transferred to another entity called the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See. This move is relevant to Pell's case for two reasons. Firstly, this new structure is an implementation of reforms that Pell had recommended six years ago, a vindication of the work he had done in the Vatican. Secondly, it underlines the connection with the Secretariat of State as the alleged source of the money transfers to Australia.

Here in Australia we must continue to investigate and follow the money trail. Our authorities must also co-operate with Vatican investigators. We need to ask the necessary questions about whether and to what extent money influenced people and agencies and, in so doing, identify the ways in which due process was derailed and how transparency and accountability were not followed. Indeed, this was what Pell himself had set out to do in 2014 when he accepted Pope Francis's appointment and why his task was met with approval and enthusiasm from Catholics all over the world wanting to see transparency in the Church's finances. Noel Debien of the ABC noted at the time that this was the first significant appointment in the Pope's promised reform of the Vatican bureaucracy. He said, 'It may yet prove a masterstroke in Pope Francis's program of church reform.' The reform of the finances consisted in a plan effectively designed by Pell, in which the executive arm, the Secretariat for the Economy, of which he was the head, would report to the Council for the Economy, a board made up of international financial experts. To further its investigative capability, an auditor-general was to be appointed who would have the ability to go into any of the Vatican dicasteri, or ministries, to investigate adherence to established policies and possible financial malfeasance. By July 2014 the Pope himself had confirmed the new economic framework for the Holy See.

For those outside the Vatican there was very little controversy in such an approach, but within the Vatican it was regarded with resistance, to say the least. In the governance of the Vatican, which has existed for centuries, the tactics for opposing reform are to ignore or delay it in the hope that the reformer dies, the Pope dies or interest wanes. However, Rome had not before encountered an Australian cardinal who became popularly known as 'il rugbista,' or the rugby player, for his forthrightness and determination. The Vatican old guard did not understand the frustration and anger of the faithful that monies donated were not being spent well, but Pell knew this and moved to remedy it.

In less that one year, he uncovered major financial deficiencies. In December 2014, in an interview with a UK Catholic magazine, Pell quipped that the Vatican's financial position was much healthier than originally thought. He said:

… some hundreds of millions of Euros were tucked away in particular sectional accounts and did not appear on the balance sheet.

In the final analysis, it amounted to over 1.6 billion euros. Pell had also discovered that loans were being made off-books in a property deal in London, arranged by Becciu, then sostituto of the Secretariat of State. That is when the pushback from the Vatican's old guard began. An inquiry into this injustice is critical. To be continued.