(CNN) Among a dozen or so dinner guests at a five-star restaurant in Italy last year were EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and a controversial Vatican figure who was under investigation for and later charged with sexual abuse.

Scott Pruitt's public schedule for June 9, 2017, said he was having a private dinner with staff, but documents uncovered by The New York Times reveal he was dining with the highest-ranking member of the Catholic Church to be accused in the sex abuse scandal plaguing the global church, Cardinal George Pell.

Pell was under investigation at the time by authorities in Australia, where he had been an archbishop. Later that month, he was charged with abuse.

Pell is also a known climate change denier, a position that aligns with Pruitt, which may explain why he was invited to the dinner. Another dozen or so members of the Holy See also attended, according to a statement from the EPA.

They went to a restaurant called La Terrazza, where meals run up to $240 per plate. The EPA wouldn't say who paid for the guests, but, spokesman Jahan Wilcox said, "Administrator Pruitt paid for all of his meals."

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