Top Asian News 3:46 a.m. GMT

Report: Cardinal Pell returning to Vatican in crisis

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ former finance minister, will soon return to the Vatican during an extraordinary economic scandal for the first time since he was cleared of child abuse allegations in Australia five months ago, a newspaper reported Monday. Pell will fly back to Rome on Tuesday, Herald-Sun newspaper columnist Andrew Bolt wrote. The report by a vocal champion of the cardinal did not cite a source for the cardinal's plans. The Associated Press attempted to contact Pell where he lives in a Sydney seminary for confirmation and was told by a woman who answered the phone: “We have no comment.” The Sydney Archdiocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pell’s travel plans.