⁍ Former Vatican treasurer George Pell is traveling to Rome for the first time since he was acquitted of child sex abuse charges in Australia.
⁍ Pell left Rome in July 2017 to face charges for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the late 1990s.
⁍ He was convicted in December 2018 and served just over a year in jail before Australia’s High Court overturned the conviction in April.
– Cardinal George Pell is back in Rome for the first time since he was acquitted in April of child sex abuse charges in Australia. The 79-year-old former Vatican treasurer, who served more than a year in prison before Australia’s High Court overturned his conviction in April, flew to Rome on Tuesday, a rep for the Catholic Church tells Reuters. “He always intended to return to Rome,” says Katrina Lee, a close friend who is an executive adviser to the Archdiocese of Sydney. Pell left Rome in July 2017 to face charges that he sexually assaulted two choirboys in the late 1990s. He was convicted in December that year and served more than a year in prison before the conviction was overturned in April. Pell has been living in Sydney since his release.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/australia-abuse-pell-vatican-int/ex-vatican-treasurer-pell-heads-back-to-rome-from-australia-idUSKBN26J1B2