George Pell office denies Vatican funding

George Pell’s office has denied he received any money from the Vatican to fund his legal defence against child sexual abuse allegations.

Cardinal George Pell at Rome's Fiumicino airport last week. Picture: AFP

George Pell’s office has denied he received any money from the Vatican to fund his legal defence against child sexual abuse allegations.

Responding to claims of a mysterious transfer of more than $1.1m in church money to Australia, a spokesman for Cardinal Pell on Tuesday was emphatic in denying the Vatican or any other part of the church in Australia or elsewhere had bankrolled his legal fees over charges that saw him jailed before being freed on appeal in April.

The spokesman said money was donated by supporters of the cardinal, many of whom had not met him and some of whom were not Catholic.

An appeal, independent of the church, was organised and widely publicised in Catholic magazines.

Three major Italian news­papers have reported that the seven-figure sum was wired to Australia to corrupt the sex-abuse case Cardinal Pell was facing in 2017.

Lawyer Viv Waller, who represented the complainant in the case, said her client had not received any of the money.

Amid speculation about the alleged money transfer, The Australian can reveal that the Vatican’s ambassador to Australia, Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, met the Pope in a private audience in Rome on Monday.

The meeting came amid suggestions a reported transfer of €700,000 of Vatican funds were sent to an account at the Holy See’s Canberra embassy.

Such a meeting, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggests Francis is sufficiently concerned about the reports to seek further information.

Three leading Italian newspapers have reported that disgraced Vatican Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a staunch opponent of Cardinal Pell’s fin­ancial reforms, was suspected of paying that amount to an unnamed account in Australia to unfavourably influence the case against Cardinal Pell.

The case was ultimately dismissed 7-nil by the High Court, after Cardinal Pell spent 13 months in jail, mostly in solitary confinement.

Cardinal Becciu, who resigned from the college of cardinal last week, denies the allegation made by his former associate, Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, in the Italian daily newspaper Il Messaggero.

It is believed to be the newspaper read by the Pope.

On Saturday, Edward Pentin, Vatican-based correspondent for the US National Catholic Register, reported that a Vatican source with detailed knowledge of the matter confirmed details of a bank transfer to Australia as reported by Corriere della Sera.

There is no suggestion Archbishop Yllana, a Filipino appointed ambassador to Australia in 2015 by Francis, has been involved in any wrong­doing.

The embassy told The Australian yesterday that Archbishop Yllana was “away on a mission’’ and nobody else was available to answer questions.

Several questions have been emailed to the archbishop.