“Cardinal Pell took a leave of absence from his post at the Secretariat of the Economy to address the court proceedings. A preliminary hearing is now underway in Melbourne to determine whether the abuse charges, which the cardinal has emphatically denied, are credible enough to warrant a trial.
A senior prelate at the Vatican told the Register last month he was “deeply concerned” that Cardinal Pell’s reforms, “which he was taking forward very effectively amid a lot of difficulty, seem to have been reversed.”
In addition to the Curia’s finance reforms, the recent disclosure that the Pope pushed the Papal Foundation to donate $25 million to the Instituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata (IDI), a Church-run Italian hospital in Rome that has been plagued by corruption and mismanagement, has also cast a further shadow over the Holy Father’s handling of finances.
The hospital, although well regarded, has a debt of nearly $1 billion and a history of corruption due to kickbacks and nepotism. Informed sources told the Register Feb. 20 that the Pope and senior Vatican officials were warned not to give money to the organization, but proceeded anyway, against the wishes of the Papal Foundation’s benefactors.
“In attempts to save the hospital, they’ve tried to take money from anywhere they can,” said a source involved in the financial reforms, “because if the IDI goes broke, the Italian government will take control of it from the Vatican.”
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-and-reform-financial-problems-persist
Why is Mahony walking around? He is a lynch pin in this current massive, massive crisis. “The law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, which pursues litigation on behalf of alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, noted that Salazar’s name wasn’t included in archdiocese lists of credibly accused priests released in 2005, 2008 and this year.” https://apnews.com/07830c367a294e55ba7747d21a826de5