The taste of freedom: George Pell is spotted enjoying a refreshing drink with a colleague at a cafe in Rome
Cardinal George Pell has enjoyed a refreshing iced drink with a younger colleague at a cafe in Rome after making his first trip to the city since he was jailed and then exonerated of child sex abuse charges.
The 79-year-old - whose convictions for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s were quashed by Australia's High Court in April - flew into the Italian capital on Wednesday.
The former archbishop of Melbourne does not yet have a meeting scheduled with Pope Francis, according to a Vatican spokesman.
Pell on Sunday was pictured dressed in clerical clothing as he sat with the colleague in a restaurant's outdoor seating area in the Italian capital.
Cardinal George Pell has a drink with a younger colleague at a cafe in Rome as he made his first return to the Italian city since his child sex abuse convictions were quashed
The reason for Pell's exemption to leave Australia remains unclear. Australians must have compassionate personal reasons or be travelling on official business to leave the country
Pell was dressed in clerical clothing as he sat with his colleague in a restaurant's outdoor seating area in the Italian capital
Pell pictured at the cafe on Sunday. He returned to Rome after he left the Vatican in 2017 to defend himself in an Australian court from false accusations of sexual abuses
The reason for his trip to Rome remains unclear but he said shortly after his release from jail he would at some point return to the city to pack up his apartment.
A Pell aide said his stay in Rome was a 'private visit'.
At their last face-to-face meeting in June 2017, Pope Francis gave Pell an extended period of leave to return to Australia and clear his name, amid false accusations he molested two choirboys in the 1990s.
Last week, Pell was furiously heckled by a woman outside his apartment in Rome.
'We hate you, we hate you,' the woman from Melbourne said as Pell entered the apartment building.
Experts on the workings of the tiny city state said a reunion between the head of the Roman Catholic Church and the man he once appointed as his trusted anti-corruption tsar was inevitable.
'He will meet Francis. He'll do it as a free man,' Italy's Repubblica newspaper said.
'It will be Pell's chance for a redress, after many in the Vatican rejoiced at his removal.'
Pell is pictured seated in front of a giant ice cream cone in an otherwise quiet seating area with his colleague on Sunday
Pell wore a face mask but said nothing to the waiting media pack as he landed in Rome on Wednesday
Pell was convicted in December 2018 of sexually abusing the boys when he was the archbishop of Melbourne.
He strenuously denied the charges and the High Court in Australia overturned his conviction in April this year after hearing his second appeal.
The former Vatican treasurer spent more than a year in prison.
Under coronavirus travel restrictions, Australians are barred from leaving the country except for official business or compassionate personal reasons.
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It was not known on what condition Pell was granted an exemption.
Pell boarded a plane bound for Rome on one of the last flights leaving Sydney International Airport on Tuesday night.
NSW Police officers are believed to have escorted Pell through the airport terminal via a lower ground entrance different to the one used by the public to avoid the waiting media, Nine News reported.