(ZENIT News / Rome, 10.01.2023).- Australian Cardinal George Pell died shortly before 9:00 pm on Tuesday night, January 10, in a Rome hospital, as a result of heart complications.
Journalist Edward Pentin, the first to announce the death, reported that the Australian Cardinal was admitted to a hospital in Rome on Tuesday afternoon, to undergo a routine hip prothesis operation. The operation was a success, but later the Cardinal suffered an alleged heart arrest, according to his personal secretary, Father Joseph Hamilton.
Cardinal Pell was Archbishop of Sydney. In 2014 Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy to clean up the Holy See’s finances. In 2017 he was accused of sexual aggression for which he went on trial and later to prison. Australia’s Supreme Court of Justice released him in April 2020 by unanimous decision. Subsequently he published a book of his memoirs. In July 2022, Pope Francis vindicated Cardinal Pell’s role against corruption and in favour of financial transparency in the Vatican.
