Catholic Cardinal George Pell to leave Australia, return to Rome

Cardinal George Pell.
Cardinal George Pell. Photo credit: File

Catholic Cardinal Geoge Pell is returning to Rome six months after he was acquitted of child sex abuse.

His return comes just days after a powerful Vatican cardinal, Giovanni Becciu was fired over accusations of embezzlement and nepotism.

"The Holy Father was elected to clean up Vatican finances," Cardinal Pell told the Catholic News Agency on Friday.

"He plays a long game and is to be thanked and congratulated on recent developments."

The Catholic News Agency reports Pell, aged 79, will leave Sydney on Tuesday. He has been living in the city since his release from jail in 2019.

"He always intended to return to Rome," Katrina Lee, an adviser to the Archdiocese of Sydney and close friend of Pell's, told Reuters.

Pell returned to Australia from Rome in mid-2017 to fight charges related to the sexual abuse of two young choirboys while he was Archbishop of Melbourne in the late 1990s.

The former Vatican treasurer was convicted in December 2018 and served just a year of a six-year sentence before his charges were overturned in April.

It was rumoured Pell would fly to Rome directly after his release from prison, but the COVID-19 pandemic meant it was unwise.

Katrina Lee, a close friend of Pell, told Guardian Australia at the time she didn't think "anyone" would go to Italy during the pandemic.

"Cardinal Pell is staying in Sydney."