George Pell

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Ecclesiastical career

Pell was ordained a priest by Cardinal Gregorio Pietro Agagianian at St. Peter's Basilica on December 16, 1966. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in early Christianity from Pontificia Urbaniana in 1967 and continued his studies at the University of Oxford, where he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in early Christianity from about 170 to about 270. He served as a chaplain to Catholic students at Eton College during his time at Oxford.

In 1971, he returned to Australia and was assigned as an assistant priest in Swan Hill, where he stayed for two years. He served at a parish in Ballarat East from 1973 to 1983, before becoming the parish administrator of Bungaree in 1984. He obtained a Master of Education degree from Monash University in Melbourne in 1982. He served as Episcopal Vicar for Education (1973–84), founding of the Institute of Catholic Education (1974–84) and principal of the Institute of Catholic Education (1981–84). He was also editor of Light, the Diocese of Ballarat's newspaper, from 1979 to 1984.

Pell served as the seminary rector of his alma mater, Corpus Christi College, from 1985 to 1987.

On March 30, 1987, Pell was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne and titular bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scala (Italy). On May 21, 1987, Archbishop Frank Little granted him his episcopal consecration, with bishops Ronald Mulkearns and Joseph O'Connell serving as co-consecrators. He served as Bishop of Melbourne's Southern Region (1987–96). He was a parish priest in Mentone at the time.

Pell was proclaimed the seventh Archbishop of Melbourne on July 16, 1996, and Pope John Paul II honoured him on June 29. He was named the eighth Archbishop of Sydney on March 26, 2001, but John Paul received the palalium from him on June 29, 2001.

Pell served as a consultant for the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 1990 to 1995 and as a member from 2002. He was a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1990 to 2000. John Paul II appointed him President of the Vox Clara commission in April 2002 to advise the Congregation for Divine Worship on English translations of liturgical texts. He was elected as a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family on December 21, 2002, having previously served as a consultant to the board. Pell was elected a member of the Congregation for Bishops on September 22, 2012.

Pell, the Archbishop of Melbourne, tended to a broad variety of topics, while keeping a tight adherence to Catholic orthodoxy; with some disagreements regarding Catholics and "primacy of conscience" cited, there is no such disagreement.

"We must not allow the situation to devolve as it did in Elijah's time, 850 years before Christ, where monotheism was almost swamped by Baal's ferocious paganism." "Worship of the natural powers of nature is half correct, a primitive stage in the movement toward acknowledging the one: the single Transcendent God, above and beyond nature." It's a symptom of our time that Hollywood is pumping out this old-fashioned pagan propaganda."

Pope John Paul II confirmed on September 28, 2003, that he would appoint Pell and 28 others to the College of Cardinals. He was made cardinal priest of Santa Maria Domenica Mazzarello during the commnenty of October 21. For the first time, three cardinals were eligible to vote in a papal election: Pell, Edward Bede Clancy, and Edward Idris Cassidy.

Pell was one of the cardinal electors in 2005 who voted for Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. Ratzinger's unauthorised "campaign manager" is said to have served. Pell was described as a potential successor to Benedict XVI as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In February 2007, Pell introduced new family rules for people speaking at funerals. "On not a few occasions, inappropriate remarks glossing over the deceased's proclivities (drinking prowess, romantic conquests, etc) or about the Church (attacking its moral teachings) were made at funeral Masses," he said. The eulogy should never overshadow the celebrant's homily, God's compassion, and Jesus' resurrection under Pell's rules.

Pell lobbied for the 2008 World Youth Day in Sydney, which took Benedict XVI on his first papal visit to Australia. Around half a million young people from 200 countries attended the Pope, and one million people came from around the world to see the Pope. Benedict released his first public apology on July 19, 2008, to victims of child sexual assault by Catholic priests.

Both Pell and his Anglican counterpart, Archbishop Peter Jensen, condemned atheism in their 2010 Good Friday sermons. Both men were also closely aligned on policy issues, and Jensen published Pell's biography.

Pell was chosen by Benedict XVI on September 18, 2012, to be one of the Synod Fathers of the Synod General Assembly of the Synod Fathers on the New Evangelization.

Pell was the first cardinal from Oceania to attend the 2013 papal conclave. He was said to be organizing votes on behalf of Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan, the Italian cardinal's favorite candidate.

Following Pope Francis' election, Pell, the only cardinal able to represent Oceania, one of eight members to advise the Pope on Vatican bureaucracy reform, was appointed to five-year terms; he was named as the Roman Curia.

Pell was elected first prefect of the newly established Secretariat for the Economy in February 2014. Pell is in charge of the Holy See and Vatican's annual budget. Pell's Ordinary Section of the Apostolic See (APSA) was transferred to the Secretariat for the Economy in July 2014 by Pope Francis to allow the Secretariat to exercise economic control and vigilance over the Holy See's departments. It was also announced that the remaining APSA workers would continue to concentrate solely on its position as a treasure for the Holy See and Vatican City State.

Following the confirmation of the Institute of the Works of Religion's (IOR, also known as the Vatican Bank) by the Pope on April 7, the IOR announced plans for the next stage of expansion. The Council of Cardinal Advisers, the Secretariat for the Economy, the Supervisory Commission of Cardinals, and the current IOR Board of Superintendence have agreed that this initiative will be carried out by a new executive team led by Jean-Baptiste de Franssu.

On September 13, 2014, Pell was elected a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The Secretariat for the Economy published a new handbook in November 2014, outlining financial planning guidelines for all Vatican offices, which would go into operation on January 1, 2015. The Council for the Economy and Pope Benedict approved the paper. "The manual is very straightforward," Pell said. "It brings Financial Management practices into conformance with international standards, and it will help all Entities and Administrations of the Holy See and Vatican City State prepare financial reports in a consistent and transparent manner."

On December 12, 2018, the Vatican announced that Pell was one of three "more senior" cardinals to leave the Pope's Council of Cardinal Advisers after a five-year term. The Pope thanked the three people for their service. On February 24, 2019, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy's five-year term came to an end.

Following Pell's initial arrest for sexual harassment in February 2019, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) initiated its own probe into the allegations against him, but the Vatican also stated that the CDF would wait for a "definite decision" from the Australian courts in the case. At the time, Pope Benedict said that Pell was "forbidden to practice public service and...from engaging in any way or form with minors," and that measures that had existed since Pell's return to Australia in July 2017. The Vatican announced in August 2019 that Pell's appeal would be allowed until Pell's appeal was dismissed. A Vatican spokesperson said that when Pell's pleas were quashed in April 2020, the decision would "draw its conclusions on the basis of canon law" rather than the CDF's inquiry. The CDF's probes into Pell's acquittal by the High Court brought an end to his report.

Pell had heart problems during his Vatican tour in January 2010, and a pacemaker was fitted in a Rome hospital in February. Pell's doctors ruled that his heart disease was serious enough to prevent air travel from Italy to Australia in 2015. In February 2016, he was supposed to be fit to travel. Based on a two-page medical paper submitted by Pell's lawyers, he was refused permission to appear in person by commission chair Justice Peter McClellan. Via a video connection up, he testified from a hotel in Rome. He underwent knee surgery in December 2018. By June 2019, he had recovered enough to avoid using a cane. An analysis of his mental and physical health during his detention following his arrest in February 2019 revealed he was fit enough to be kept in HM Melbourne Assessment Prison.

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