Rachel Olding in an article entitled "Why George Pell dined with under-fire EPA's Scott Pruitt in secret," on Cardinal Pell's secret opulent dinner with climate change denier and Trump's EPA head Scott Pruitt — and why Pruitt sought to keep the dinner secret:
It appears Pruitt set up the dinner with Pell weeks earlier as part of his efforts to stage a debate between opposing climate change academics.
"Dinner with Cardinal Pell and others," one email quoted by The Times says. "Note: His 76th birthday is tomorrow."
It was publicly known at the time that Pell was under investigation for sexual abuse (he has since been committed to stand trial and denies the allegations) and his presence at the dinner was left off four different schedules released by Pruitt's office.
An EPA spokesman said on Saturday that Pruitt did not know of the allegations against Pell. However, Kevin Chmielewski, Pruitt's former deputy chief of staff for operations, told the New York Times that EPA officials deliberately left Pell off printed schedules as they feared it would reflect poorly on Pruitt if it became public.
"It was a no-brainer," Chmielewski said. . . .
Pell, the Vatican's treasurer, has previously dismissed the science linking greenhouse gas emissions with climate change, calling it "hysteric and extreme claims" and "a symptom of pagan emptiness".
His presence at the dinner is likely to raise eyebrows in the Vatican following Pope Francis' declaration in 2015 that the science is "clear" and climate change is a "moral issue that must be addressed in order to protect the Earth".
Francis said last year that "history will judge" climate change deniers.
Thanks to Sarasi for pointing Bilgrimage readers to this article.
