ROME – Cardinal George Pell, the pope’s former finance czar, has returned to Rome for the first time since he was acquitted of child sexual abuse and released from an Australian prison, Italian media reports.

 The 79-year-old this afternoon was spotted at Fiumicino airport wearing a surgical mask before being driven to his apartment near the Vatican.

 In 2017 Pell took leave from his position as the head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy to return to Australia to face sexual abuse charges dating back to his time as the archbishop of Melbourne.

 The prelate, who was convicted of sexually abusing two altar boys, served 13 months of a six-year jail sentence before the High Court of Australia overturned the conviction in April.

 cc