Bishop Pilla is implicated in the Cleveland Diocese CFO case. The defense brings him up as a means of showing that the whole thing was above board, it’s not what you think, and everyone knew about it:

Smith is accused of being paid $270,000 in a secret church account. Lawyers for Zgoznik said that their client was not only authorized to make those payments but that top church officials knew about them, including the recently retired bishop.

"The chief financial officer was aware of it, the committee that reviewed the finances made up of lay people and priests were aware of it, the CPA firm that audited the books every year was aware of it, the bishop was aware of it, and now because of the multi problems, I think, in this diocese, people are just saying, ‘Oh no, we didn’t know and we didn’t authorize,’ so it’s a tragedy," said defense attorney Robert Rotatori.

Smith allegedly received another $784,000 in kickbacks in return for steering more than $17 million in church business to outside companies owned by Zgoznik.

Smith’s attorney said the payments are not what they appear to be.

"We think that there are some misunderstandings which we hope to clear up and we look forward to doing so at trial, in the courtroom with the jury," said attorney Philip Kushner