Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Inside the VaticanMay 13, 2020
Cardinal George Pell is pictured in a screen grab during an interview that aired April 14 on Sky News Australia. (CNS screen grab) 

On this week’s episode of the “Inside the Vatican” podcast, Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and I discuss the Australian Royal Commission’s findings that Cardinal George Pell knew about priests abusing children in the Ballarat diocese as early as 1973, a year after he began working in that diocese, and that Cardinal Pell was involved in transferring pedophile priests between parishes.

Listen and subscribe on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

The commission’s findings were previously released in a redacted form while Cardinal Pell’s trial and appeal process were underway. The Australian High Court overturned a lower court’s conviction of Cardinal Pell on sexual abuse charges in early April. On the podcast, Gerry and I discuss what, if any, consequences may follow the Royal Commission’s findings.

In this episode, we also discuss changes in the Italian church as that country prepares to resume public Masses next week. We detail the sanitation requirements for public liturgies, and Gerry explains why Italian churchgoers may not be keen to go back to Mass quickly.

We also look at Pope Francis’ surprise appointment of a Franciscan as the new archbishop of Genoa. While previous archbishops of Genoa could count on being named cardinals, Gerry believes Pope Francis is unlikely to give the new archbishop a red hat while Italians are over-represented in the College of Cardinals.

Links from the show:

Inquiry: Pell knew of abuse by Australian pedophile priest

Italy will soon allow public Masses—with conditions

Pope Francis, in surprise appointment, chooses a Franciscan as archbishop of Genoa, Italy

The latest from america

What is happening to migrants in courtrooms across the country is a complete embarrassment to the justice system and an affront to human dignity.
Being a kid in the summer is all about existing in an eternal present moment, a feeling of freedom and potential that it will never go away.
John DoughertyJuly 11, 2025
Father Thomas Hennen, vicar general of the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, has been appointed Bishop of Baker, Oregon.
OSV NewsJuly 11, 2025
My writing during these past five years is filled with memories of my long journey with God over a lifetime; but very significantly, it is the expression of my prayer at this later time of my life.