Holy See: Former Employee Calls Cardinal Pell’s Death “Mysterious”

Source: FSSPX News

The news first came from Australia—the home country of Cardinal George Pell—by the national daily The Australian, and then was taken up by various agencies. The former Auditor General of the Vatican, Libero Milone, called the death of Cardinal George Pell, which took place on January 10, 2023, “mysterious.”

Libero Milone was appointed Auditor General of the Vatican accounts on June 5, 2015, for a term of five years. Because of this, he was called on to work with Cardinal Pell, who was then the first Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy of the Holy See.

But in June 2017, he was forced to resign from his office, in a series of events that involved Cardinal Angelo Becciu. It is very difficult to untangle the threads of this story, but the subsequent conviction of Cardinal Becciu in the London building affair casts suspicion on the manner in which the Auditor General was forced to step down.

It should be added, to put Libero Milone’s statement in its full context, that the former Auditor General sued the Holy See in the Vatican City court for “wrongful termination.” The matter was judged in January. All Milone’s claims were dismissed, and he was fined for the legal costs (around 50,000 euros). In other words, Milone’s statements could have been dictated by a certain resentment.

The Investigation of The Australian

According to the newspaper, Milone “suggests a link between Cardinal Pell’s death and the Vatican real estate scandal.” He told the newspaper: “At his funeral, in front of his coffin, I promised him that we would bring the truth to light.”

According to the Australian media’s research, “rumors circulated for months at the Vatican about the last hours of Pell’s life, due to an unusual way of doing things after his death.”

Moreover, “sources affirmed that the hospital’s surveillance video was deactivated at the moment of Pell’s death,” the newspaper continues. The investigation into the hospital reportedly received no response.

Finally, the newspaper questions the fact that Cardinal Pell “had been operated on at Salvator Mundi hospital and not at the Gemelli clinic, close to the Vatican” and the usual healthcare provider for the Holy See’s senior officials.

Even so, it is a little difficult to rely on such poor elements to call the death of a senior prelate “mysterious,” especially when the judgment is based on the remarks of a man who bears a grudge against the Holy See.

Moreover, for an 81-year-old man, an operation such as the one the Cardinal underwent, even if it is not something extraordinary, can always lead to complications that could be fatal, according to a medical assessment of the situation. There is always a risk, even if small.

It is unfortunate that Cardinal George Pell is being used after his death to pursue obscure aims. He was unjustly imprisoned for a year for a crime of which he was entirely exonerated by the Australian High Court.