Is Cardinal George Pell headed to a key Vatican post?

From The Australian:

CATHOLIC circles in Rome and Australia are abuzz with speculation that Pope Benedict XVI will shortly appoint Australia's Cardinal George Pell to a prestigious job in the top echelons of the Roman Curia.

Cardinal Pell's experience as Archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne, and his service on a range of Vatican organisations, is seen as an ideal background to take on a senior Vatican job.

Cardinal Pell, who was ordained in 1966, served as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when Cardinal Ratzinger was in charge.

He is also a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and president of the Vox Clara Committee, which advises the Vatican on English translations of liturgical texts used at Mass.

One possible senior job becoming vacant in Rome is the powerful position of Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, which helps advise the Pope on the appointment of new bishops across the world.

Its Prefect, Cardinal Battista Re, who has held the job since 2000, reached the retirement age of 75 this year.

Two weeks ago Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, and Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, to be members of the Congregation for Bishops.

Here is a 2005 Ignatius Insight interview with Cardinal Pell:

And a 2005 interview with Tess Livingstone, author of George Pell: Defender of the Faith Down Under (Ignatius Press, 2005):

Comments

[SGX]

This would be a wonderful gift to the church. I believe Cardinal Pell would help repair mother Church. But i fear for my country, Australia. Liberal Bishops would be the only leaders of the church left.

[Marcel LeJeune]

Lord may it happen please.

[John Rayner]

If Cardinal Pell were to go to Rome it would indeed be Rome's gain and Australia's loss, but I cannot totally agree that only liberal bishops would be left. Bishops Anthony Fisher and Dennis Hart could hardly be called liberal and my own Archbishop Barry James Hickey, although not a standout in the style of Cardinal Pell, could hardly be called a liberal either.
JARay

[Carol]

Cardinal Pell gleams with that aura of holiness that I only see in few other cardinals, bishops and priests.(the only others I can think of is Father Mitch Pacwa and Father Anthony Mary on EWTN).
He understands Gods laws and is not afraid to stand up for Truth. He is straight talking and couragous; something that our Church needs in all clergy in these chaotic times.
God Bless his path no matter where he goes in this life.

[Anthony Bidgood]

Besides the bishops mentioned by JARay I would include Bishop Prowse and Bishop Elliott. Both, today, led a special Angelus and Rosary at Saint Agatha's church in Cranbourne for a successful outcome to the talks being held between the Holy See and the SSPX. Not the actions of 'liberal' bishops. Archbishop Coleridge of Canberra, where ordinations to the FSSP were held last year, does not strike me as a 'liberal' either.

In Christo,
Anthony Bidgood