Pope’s No 3 ‘investigated over abuse of altar boys’

THE Vatican’s economy minister is reportedly being investigated on suspicion of sexually abusing altar boys when he was a priest.

George Pell, an Australian cardinal who is third in the hierarchy after Pope Francis, is the most senior Vatican figure to be accused of sexually abusing minors.

In a statement, he denied the accusations, saying they were “utterly false”.

The Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne reported that police in the state of Victoria have been investigating the 74-year-old cardinal over allegations that he abused between five and 10 boys.

Australian police have a dossier containing allegations of “multiple offences” from 1978 to 2001 when he was a priest in the town of Ballarat and later as Archbishop of Melbourne, the

Herald Sun reported. He is accused of abusing 14-yearold altar boys and sexual offences at a swimming pool in Ballarat.

Cardinal Pell, the former Archbishop of Sydney who has long been accused of shielding predatory priests, was due to give evidence by video link next week to an Australian inquiry into abuse by priests in Ballarat.

A statement released by his office in Rome said the accusations were “without foundation and utterly false.” It said Cardinal Pell had been exonerated by a previous Australian investigation into allegations against him, and insisted he would be again.