Latest / The Front / The Vatican trial that’s stranger than fiction

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The Vatican trial that’s stranger than fiction · The Front

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  Speaker 1: on the front. I'm Kristin Amiot. It's Wednesday, July three.
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  Speaker 1: The aged care sector is revolting against a government plan
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  Speaker 1: to impose criminal penalties on dodgy operators. They say the
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  Speaker 1: labor election promise wasn't recommended by the Royal Commission into
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  Speaker 1: Aged Care and it could prompt a mass exodus from
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  Speaker 1: the already struggling sector. That exclusive story is live right
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  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au. The rolls
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  Speaker 1: Royce of energy generation. That's how businessman Dick Smith describes
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  Speaker 1: nuclear energy. He says the Albanese government should dump its
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  Speaker 1: moratorium on nuclear so it doesn't make an enormous mistake.
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  Speaker 1: A former senior Vatican official has cast suspicion on the
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  Speaker 1: circumstances of Australian Cardinal George Pell. The Holy Sees First
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  Speaker 1: Order to General says Pell's death is shrouded in mystery
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  Speaker 1: and he's headed to court to clear his name. As
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  Speaker 1: the fallout from a historic financial scandal continues, that's today's episode.
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  Speaker 1: We are in the middle of a war to protect
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  Speaker 1: the secrets so powerful the def review it could devastate
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  Speaker 1: the better foundations of mainkind. The da Vinci Code first
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  Speaker 1: a global bestseller, then a giant blockbuster starring Tom Hanks.
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  Speaker 1: It's a dark thriller set deep in the internescine warfare
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  Speaker 1: of the Catholic Church.
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  Speaker 2: Open Life Witness the greatest cover up in human history.
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  Speaker 1: Murder, Secrets, cryptic Messages. The story follows the fictional Harvard
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  Speaker 1: professor Robert Langdon as he tries to clear his name
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  Speaker 1: of a murder brazenly carried out inside the Louver. In
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  Speaker 1: the process, he calls the accepted history of the Catholic
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  Speaker 1: Church into question. See The book and the film adaptation
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  Speaker 1: advanced the idea that Jesus Christ was married to Mary
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  Speaker 1: Magdalene and they had a child whose descendants still exist today.
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  Speaker 1: You're seeing all this wals kill for Remember this is
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  Speaker 1: a work of fiction, but not everyone took it that way.
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  Speaker 1: Its controversial take on Christianity, as well as alleged inaccuracies
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  Speaker 1: in its portrayals of European history, art, and even geography,
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  Speaker 1: meant that Da Vinci Code made enemies all over the planet.
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  Speaker 1: Both the book and the film were banned in several countries,
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  Speaker 1: including Egypt, India, Samoa and Thailand, but it drew the
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  Speaker 1: most criticism from the Vatican, where it was denounced by
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  Speaker 1: the highest ranking members of the Catholic Church. They called
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  Speaker 1: for a boycott, saying the Da Vinci Code is full
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  Speaker 1: of offenses and historical and theological errors. Now a real
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  Speaker 1: life drama is unfolding at the Vatican, and it's got
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  Speaker 1: more twists and turns than a Dan Brown novel. On Wednesday,
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  Speaker 1: a hearing of appeal will get underway in Rome. It's
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  Speaker 1: been brought by career accountant Libro Maloney. He alleges he
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  Speaker 1: was unfairly sacked from his position as the Vatican's first
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  Speaker 1: ever Order to General, and he's made some stunning claims
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  Speaker 1: about the circumstances surrounding the death of Australia's highest ranking Catholic.
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  Speaker 1: Maloney tells a story full of intrigue and drama to
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  Speaker 1: rival the Da Vinci Code itself, and this time it's real.
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  Speaker 1: After four rounds of voting, coron Mario Brigoglio was selected
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  Speaker 1: as the new Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, succeeding
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  Speaker 1: Paul Benedict sixteenth. When he was elevated to the papacy
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  Speaker 1: in twenty thirteen, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bogoglio of Argentina became
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  Speaker 1: the first non European pope to serve in thirteen hundred years.
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  Speaker 1: He adopted the name Pope Francis, after Saint Francis of Assisi.
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  Speaker 1: One of his first tasks in the top job was
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  Speaker 1: unraveling the Vatican's abundant but tangled finances. He appointed Cardinal
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  Speaker 1: George pell who'd been called to Rome from Australia a
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  Speaker 1: little over a decade earlier, to head up three new
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  Speaker 1: financial institutions and lead sweeping reforms. In addition to a
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  Speaker 1: multi billion dollar art and antiques collection, the Vatican also
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  Speaker 1: has a vast property portfolio that brings in profits in
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  Speaker 1: the millions of dollars every year. The Catholic Church operates
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of charitable organizations around the world, and it even
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  Speaker 1: has its own bank. It's called the Institute for the
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  Speaker 1: Works of Religion, but it's better known as the Vatican Bank.
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  Speaker 1: When Pope Francis was elected, rumors had been swirling for
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  Speaker 1: a while the Vatican Bank was a front for nefarious
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  Speaker 1: activities like money laundering, so balancing the books would be
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  Speaker 1: no mean feat. About a month after his appointment, pell
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  Speaker 1: shut down thousands of Vatican Bank accounts and referred more
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  Speaker 1: than two hundred account holders to the authorities. It was
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  Speaker 1: a strong start, but after a year in the job,
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  Speaker 1: Pelle called in reinforcements. He hired Libro Maloney as an
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  Speaker 1: independent orditor General and brought in forensic accountant Ferruccio Pinicco
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  Speaker 1: to tease their way through tomes of financial documents with
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  Speaker 1: a fine tooth comb. They worked at it solidly for
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  Speaker 1: three years until twenty seventeen, when things took a dramatic
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  Speaker 1: and unexpected turn. In a scene befitting an action film,
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  Speaker 1: the officers used by Maloney and Pinicico were raided by
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  Speaker 1: Vatican police. Computers and phones were gathered up and whisked
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  Speaker 1: from the premises. Filing cabinets and safes were cracked open
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  Speaker 1: with crowbars, sledgehammers, and power drills. The two accountants were
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  Speaker 1: interrogated by the Vatican Police for hours and ultimately forced
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  Speaker 1: to resign then and there. It was the softer alternative
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  Speaker 1: to criminal prosecution for alleged spying on the Holy See.
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  Speaker 3: Three months ago, this official communication announced that the Holy
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  Speaker 3: Seas editor General resigned in agreement with the Vatican, without
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  Speaker 3: giving more details.
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  Speaker 1: Three months after the raid, Libra and Maloney called a
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  Speaker 1: press conference where he alleged his dismissal was an attempt
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  Speaker 1: to sabotage the audit and that it was an inside job.
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  Speaker 1: The Vatican's top cop Domenico Giani, clapped back, saying there
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  Speaker 1: was overwhelming evidence against Maloney and Pinicico, but it's never
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  Speaker 1: been produced and that brings us to the lawsuit. In
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  Speaker 1: late twenty twenty two, five years after the accountants were
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  Speaker 1: booted from the Vatican, they filed a lawsuit in which
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  Speaker 1: they sought compensation totaling nine million euros for breach of contract,
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  Speaker 1: loss of earnings, reputational damage, and hardship suffered by them
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  Speaker 1: and their families. Pernico died from prostate cancer last year,
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  Speaker 1: shortly after issuing an impassioned plea to the Vatican to
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  Speaker 1: clear his name. In January of this year, a Vatican
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  Speaker 1: tribunal declined to hear Maloney and Panicico's case. It said
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  Speaker 1: Cardinal Angelo Bechiu and Gianni weren't acting as representatives of
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  Speaker 1: the Holy See when they forced the accountants to resign.
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  Speaker 1: To add insult to injury, the tribunal ordered Maloney and
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  Speaker 1: Ponico to pay legal fees in the amount of one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and ten thousand euros. But these are forensic accountants,
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  Speaker 1: and Maloney had one move left. He filed an appeal,
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  Speaker 1: saying senior Vatican officials, including Bechu, got rid of them
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  Speaker 1: because they were getting too close to the truth. And
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  Speaker 1: it's today in the Eternal City that this curious, dramatic
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  Speaker 1: saga enters its next stage when the appeal hearing gets underway.
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  Speaker 1: But wait, there's more coming up after the break. How
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  Speaker 1: a controversial cardinal's death fits into this puzzle. Our subscribers
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  Speaker 1: every day. Join us at the Australian dot com dot
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  Speaker 1: au and we'll be back after this break. Within days
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  Speaker 1: of a dramatic raid by Vatican police on the offices
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  Speaker 1: of independent financial auditors, the Australian Cardinal George Pell who
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  Speaker 1: was heading up the operation, was charged with historic sexual
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  Speaker 1: assault offenses by Victorian police. In August of the following year,
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. In the first of two trials ended in
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  Speaker 1: a hung jury. On the second go round, in December,
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  Speaker 1: Pell was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison.
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  Speaker 4: It's news that will send shockwaves throughout the Roman Catholic Church.
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  Speaker 4: Cardinal George Pell, Vatican Treasurer, found guilty of child sex abuse.
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  Speaker 4: The verdict came down in December, but legal restrictions meant
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  Speaker 4: it couldn't be reported in Australia.
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  Speaker 1: A bit over a year into his time in solitary
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  Speaker 1: confinement at the Melbourne Assessment Center, the High Court upheld
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  Speaker 1: his conviction appeal.
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  Speaker 3: This is George Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic and today
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  Speaker 3: a man who woke up as a convicted sex offender.
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  Speaker 3: But now his name has been cleared by Australia's highest
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  Speaker 3: legal avenue, the High Court.
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  Speaker 1: Then in September of twenty twenty, Cardinal Pell returned to Rome,
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  Speaker 1: where his deputies, Liberal Maloney and Ferruccio Pinico were waging
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  Speaker 1: a legal battle to clear their names. Maloney said Pell
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  Speaker 1: was publicly supportive of their pursuit of justice and believed
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  Speaker 1: they were entitled to compensation because they were just doing
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  Speaker 1: their jobs. Three years later, Pell died.
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  Speaker 4: Cardinal George Pell has died after complications from a hip
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  Speaker 4: replacement surgery. He was eighty one years old.
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  Speaker 1: His funeral was presided over by Pope Francis at Saint
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  Speaker 1: Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, with fifty cardinals in attendance.
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  Speaker 1: Among them was Angelo Bety, the cardinal who would later
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  Speaker 1: be convicted of financial crimes. Pell made a powerful enemy
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  Speaker 1: in bet You when he started digging into the Vatican's finances,
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  Speaker 1: and that's what makes this next bid so intriguing. Bet
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  Speaker 1: You offered up a prayer of forgiveness for Pell, who
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  Speaker 1: he alleged had perpetuated slanderous suspicion that I was the
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  Speaker 1: one who conspired against him dodge. Pell's Roman funeral also
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  Speaker 1: raised eyebrows for another reason. Traditionally, cardinal's coffins are left
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  Speaker 1: open so mourners can offer a kiss or a touch
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  Speaker 1: as they pay their respects, but the Australian cardinal's casket
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  Speaker 1: was closed, prompting rumours that his body had been disfigured
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  Speaker 1: by an autopsy or incorrectly dressed for a church official
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  Speaker 1: of his rank. But Libro Maloney, the last man standing
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  Speaker 1: in the doomed financial audit believes something much darker. In
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  Speaker 1: a seventeen page statement released on Monday in the run
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  Speaker 1: up to the appeal hearing, Maloney alleged Cardinal George Pell's
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  Speaker 1: death is shrouded in mystery and revealed he made a
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  Speaker 1: heartfelt vow that he would seek out the truth while
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  Speaker 1: visiting Pell's coffin at Saint Peter's. The Australian cardinal was
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  Speaker 1: buried at Saint Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, following a second
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  Speaker 1: funeral in twenty twenty three.
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  Speaker 2: Oh God, who chose your servant, Cardinal George Pell from
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  Speaker 2: among your priests and a doubt him with pontifical dignity
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  Speaker 2: in the Apostolic priesthood grant, we pray that he may
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  Speaker 2: be admitted to their company forever through our Lord Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 2: your son who lives and reigns with you.
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  Speaker 1: If you can believe it, this is just the cliffs
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  Speaker 1: notes of this twisty Vatican saga. You can read Power
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  Speaker 1: Tataro's in depth reporting, as well as a detailed timeline
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  Speaker 1: and breakdown of the key players right now at The
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  Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot Au