Abuse survivors despair as Pell conspiracy breaks cover

At the mention of George Pell, the old man became enraged.

The Italian Monsignor had been sitting quietly beneath the baroque arches of a 17th century dining room, waiting for his guests to arrive for Sunday lunch, when a visiting Australian priest made the mistake of name-dropping the Cardinal.

Peter J. Elliott, an auxiliary bishop from Melbourne who previously worked for 10 years inside the Vatican, says he retreated to his own table without saying a word in response. “I sat down and thought ‘Oh George, you are in trouble.’”

Such was the venom in the Monsignor’s comments, Bishop Elliott made a note of them in his diary: July 5, 2015. He has since become convinced that Pell’s enemies within the Vatican, possibly with the help of the mafia, were the hidden hand in his prosecution and jailing for historical child sex offences.

This conspiracy theory, previously only held to by Cardinal Pell’s most ardent supporters, has broken into the open with Italian newspaper reports that 700,000 euros ($1.2 million) in Vatican funds were transferred to Australia to influence witness testimony against Pell.

According to those who subscribe to the theory, this was done not to bring Pell to justice but to throw him nel fango – in the mud – and prevent him from cleaning up the Vatican’s finances and exposing corruption within the church.

“He went into a situation where they were going to fight him and they got him,” says Bishop Elliott, now retired. “I believe he was punished. Now it is up to an inquiry to prove it.’’