George Pell says he feels vindicated for trying to uncover alleged financial 'criminality' at Vatican

Cardinal says in first interview since return to Rome he didn't know extent of wrongdoing and it would be better for the church if these things hadn't happened'

• Andrew West: the Pope and Pell: One of the most fascinating relationships in Rome'

Australia's highest ranking Catholic cleric and the pope's former treasurer, Cardinal George Pell, has said he feels a dismayed sense of vindication as the financial mismanagement he tried to uncover in the Holy See is now being exposed in a spiralling Vatican corruption investigation.

Pell made the comments to the Associated Press in his first interview since returning to Rome after his conviction-turned-acquittal on sexual abuse charges in Australia. Pell said he knew in 2014 when he took the treasury job that the Holy See's finances were a bit of a mess".