His Eminence, George Cardinal Pell: Rest in Peace.

A Strong Defender of the Faith, and an Innocent Man Who Was Wrongly Imprisoned for the Sins of Others.

Just a few weeks into the new year, and already so much has happened. For one thing, there has been a string of noteworthy developments related to the Catholic Church. There was, of course, the not unexpected but still deeply saddening death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger).

And then, there were also these breaking news stories of very recent vintage.

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HIS EMINENCE, GEORGE CARDINAL PELL’S death at 81 years of age this past week (January 10) in Rome, after an apparently routine hip replacement surgery shocked me — as it did so many others in the Catholic world. It came on the heels of Pope Benedict XVI’s death, whose loss many are still grieving over today. Both giants in the Catholic Church!

My goodness! To think I had just seen Cardinal Pell in vigorous form on the EWTN live coverage of the Pope Emeritus’ Funeral Mass the other Thursday!

EWTN had also posted this interview with the Australian cardinal in which he gave his impressions of Pope Benedict.

What I find different here to the usual ‘remembering Benedict’ fare is how the good cardinal highlights a reasonable definition of the role of a Pope vis-à-vis the Church’s Magisterial teachings, faith, and the faithful. His bold voice is so refreshing, with no unnecessary mincing of words.

He also pooh-poohs the caricature of Benedict as a bulldozing “Panzerkardinal.” “There was nothing Prussian about him — he was a Bavarian!” (I did sense a palpable difference between non-Bavarian and Bavarian Germany. It’s warmer in Bavaria, literally and socially, and feels more like a Mediterranean country. I liked it.)

Interviewer and EWTN Rome correspondent Colm Flynn observed that Cardinal Pell seemed “in remarkably good form” during the interview above, done just days before he died (I thought so, too). Flynn shares other thoughts on the cardinal and his death following so closely on the Pope Emeritus’ passing away.

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WHILE I HAD NEVER MET CARDINAL PELL IN PERSON, a friend did, and interviewed him in Rome close to a decade ago. He came across exactly as how he seems in interviews — no-nonsense, frank, forceful at times, but always defending Catholic truth and orthodox teaching. He might’ve better worn the “Panzerkardinal” label so wrongly slapped onto the gentle Pope Emeritus when he was still Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith!

The second article below (“Cardinal George Pell, Peace at Last”) states that he was an innocent man who paid for the sins of his brother priests. While the official “sin” proposed by his malicious enemies in Australia was sexual molestation of young boys, the actual, unofficial “sin” for which he was pilloried was his orthodoxy on these issues that secularists wish to normalize in society: abortion, euthanasia, and homosexual unions. For these, he was despised and feared by the liberals, especially in Victoria, Australia, where he’d spent most of his priestly years.

And then, there’s the timing of the allegations: it would strike anyone who’d been following the Cardinal’s story as rather suspicious. Just as he, as the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, was uncovering the Vatican Bank’s dodgy financial transactions, accusations of sexual molestation allegedly committed decades before suddenly surfaced. He immediately flew to Australia to defend himself in court, knowing full well he was innocent. Yet the Australian media practically convicted him of the supposed crimes in their scurrilous coverage of the case.

He was soon wrongly convicted by the County Court of Victoria in 2018 and sentenced to serve 6 years. He spent 405 days mostly in isolation in a Melbourne prison.

In a later happy turn of events on another appeal, the Australian High Court re-examined the accusations and the evidence, and unanimously decided to totally rubbish all the charges, replacing the lower court’s baseless convictions with acquittals. (Did the non-Catholic press report the final acquittal as prominently as it did the libelous accusations?)

Yet, Cardinal Pell carried himself with dignity, despite the harassment and attacks in public fomented by a vicious Australian press. He harbored no bitterness against his accusers. He also said this:

I consider my sentence to jail as both a gift and a grace.  But, I hasten to add that I regret it happened, and I wouldn’t have chosen it.

I remember listening with gratitude to Andrew Bolt of Sky News Australia, one of the strongest defenders of the Cardinal’s innocence. Listen to him at the time of the acquittal, as he excoriates all parties guilty of perpetrating “one of this nation’s greatest miscarriages of justice.”

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ACCESS VIDEO & ARTICLE:

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Chris Merritt, Legal Affairs contributor for The Australian,
January 10, 2023

“Cardinal Pell died an innocent man.

This might come as a terrible shock to those who were gripped by the frenzy – particularly in Victoria – that effectively amounted to a lynch mob before his trial and unsuccessful appeal in the Victorian Court of Appeal.”

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George Weigel ponders the fallout from this egregiously unjust case.

After Cardinal Pell’s rightful acquittal

EXCERPT:

{…] there remains a lot to be reckoned with in the aftermath of this case, which bore all the tawdry hallmarks of a witch hunt.

Did the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation [ABC] collude with a corrupt Victoria police department in a sleazy attempt to dig up alleged crimes where none had been previously reported? Why did so weak a case ever come to trial, given compelling evidence that what was said to have happened simply could not have happened in the timeframe and circumstances alleged by the complainant? Why was the jury never informed that the complainant had a history of psychological problems? What effect did the lynch mob atmosphere in Victoria have on the hung jury in the cardinal’s first trial, and on the incomprehensible guilty verdict rendered by the jury in the retrial? Why was the cardinal forbidden to say Mass for over 400 days, even when in solitary confinement?

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE.

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Meanwhile, back in Rome, as evidence of the noxious atmosphere at the Vatican itself for righteous people, there would emerge the still-unresolved mystery of some AUS$2.3 million being sent from the Vatican to the Australian Bishops Conference. It was supposedly intended for expenses in the trial and imprisonment of Cardinal Pell. While the Vatican’s Cardinal Angelo Becciu confirmed the release of the funds from Rome, the Australian Bishops Conference claimed it never received such a sum. (Cardinal Pell also later called for greater accountability at the Vatican Bank.)

AND MOST ASTONISHINGLY RECENT WAS THIS ARTICLE written by Cardinal Pell for the UK Spectator magazine, posted the day after he died. Starkly critical of the Vatican’s upcoming Synod on Synodality (gosh, could it not be more self-mocking in its name?), his sudden passing renders his words here even more crucial to Catholics today.

The Catholic Church must free itself from this ‘toxic nightmare’

By Cardinal George Pell

EXCERPT:

What is one to make of this potpourri, this outpouring of New Age good will? It is not a summary of Catholic faith or New Testament teaching. It is incomplete, hostile in significant ways to the apostolic tradition and nowhere acknowledges the New Testament as the Word of God, normative for all teaching on faith and morals. The Old Testament is ignored, patriarchy rejected and the Mosaic Law, including the Ten Commandments, is not acknowledged.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE.

Spectator magazine Associate Editor (and Catholic) Damian Thompson included a last-minute preface in view of the Cardinal’s unexpected death.

Thompson also wrote a commentary on the piece, concurring with its critical stance.

Cardinal Pell’s righteous fury at the Vatican’s theological direction

By Damian Thompson

11 January 2023

EXCERPT:

Put simply, it expresses righteous fury at the theological direction of this pontificate, hinting that it is betraying Christ himself.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE.

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Big Rumor Circulating at the Vatican Early Last Year

Early in 2022, a strongly worded, censorious memorandum about Pope Francis’ pontificate made the rounds of the Vatican cardinals during Lent, signed by one who called himself “Demos”.

Vatican journalist Sandro Magister reproduced the full memorandum on his blogpage on March 15, 2022.

A Memorandum on the Next Conclave Is Circulating Among the Cardinals. Here It Is

EXCERPT:
(There are a total of five enumerated points, followed by a long comment on the papal election at the next conclave):

Commentators of every school, if for different reasons, with the possible exception of Father Spadaro, SJ, agree that this pontificate is a disaster in many or most respects; a catastrophe.

1. The Successor of St. Peter is the rock on which the Church is built, a major source and cause of worldwide unity. Historically (St. Irenaeus), the Pope and the Church of Rome have a unique role in preserving the apostolic tradition, the rule of faith, in ensuring that the Churches continue to teach what Christ and the apostles taught. Previously it was: “Roma locuta. Causa finita est.” Today it is: “Roma loquitur. Confusio augetur.”

(A)    The German synod speaks on homosexuality, women priests, communion for the divorced. The Papacy is silent.

(B)    Cardinal Hollerich rejects the Christian teaching on sexuality. The Papacy is silent. This is doubly significant because the Cardinal is explicitly heretical; he does not use code or hints. If the Cardinal were to continue without Roman correction, this would represent another deeper breakdown of discipline, with few (any?) precedents in history. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith must act and speak.

(C)    The silence is emphasised when contrasted with the active persecution of the Traditionalists and the contemplative convents.

(CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE MEMO.)

Magister claims that Cardinal Pell was the memo’s author. However, Fr. Joseph Fessio, founder of Ignatius Press, has vehemently voiced his disagreement with this assertion (check out Raymond Arroyo’s show, linked further down below).

While such orthodoxy and candor are, indeed, traits of Cardinal Pell, and give credibility to Magister’s claim, I really don’t know with absolute certainty who’s correct. Yet, it seems that no one else has expressed a similar dissent to Magister’s assertion.

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IN THEIR CONTINUING, SPITEFUL ATTACKS on Cardinal Pell even after his death, and with their odious virtue-signalling, the state of Victoria in Australia has decided it will “[not offer] a state funeral in his home state to avoid distress for victims of abuse, Victoria's premier says.” (SOURCE.)

May God have mercy on these seriously misguided souls.

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With his sudden passing away, we might imagine that Cardinal Pell is now with the Pope Emeritus, looking on us as we, the Church Militant, continue our struggle against the miserable evil forces down here. We hope that they are praying for us all, too.

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And then, this reflection on the Cardinal’s difficult last few years.

It details what an innocent man had to suffer for the grave sins of others — his brother priests, specifically — most of whom remain unrepentant and unpunished still. Yet God knows all, sees all. Things may not unfold on earth as we hope and think they should, but will do so in God’s time, and according to His plan.

Cardinal George Pell, Peace At Last

By Sean Fitzpatrick

January 11, 2023

Besides being a champion for orthodox Catholicism in an age of liberalism, Cardinal Pell will be remembered primarily as the Prince of the Church who went to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

EXCERPT:

After a hip replacement surgery in Rome, His Eminence Cardinal George Pell, 81, died unexpectedly on Tuesday of an apparent cardiac arrest. The passing of the Australian Cardinal should serve as a renewed moment of recollection for the Church regarding how the innocent can be punished for the malefactions of evildoers.

Besides being a champion for orthodox Catholicism in an age of liberalism—speaking out often against homosexual “marriage,” abortion, and contraception—and who, as Vatican treasurer, occupied the third highest authority in the Church, Cardinal Pell will be remembered primarily as the Prince of the Church who went to prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

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Unrelated to Cardinal Pell, But Another (Big?) Story

There’s also been a hubbub around the newly published book by Pope Benedict’s private secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Nothing But the Truth: My Life Beside Benedict XVI. (I think this post by The Pillar is an excellent guide to the book, shorn as it is of any sensationalism.)

Am a bit wary when a corporate outlet like Reuters posts a dramatically-headlined story about it, just like this one:

Book by Benedict's top aide reveals tensions in Vatican

I chose to eschew the more popular Catholic commentators online. Thus, was curious to hear what the less well-known Gavin Ashenden thought. Gavin was a recent convert to the Catholic faith from the Anglican Church (he resigned as Chaplain to the Queen on joining the Catholic Church in 2017). Here, he features a guest who shares his impressions of the book (first 20 minutes of podcast).

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ACCESS PODCAST:

While Gavin’s guest, Dr Jules Gomes, prefaces his thoughts by saying that his grasp of Italian isn’t the best, and he’d read the book in a bit of a rush, he says he’d found no truly “explosive” revelations in it. Wondering why Reuters and others wanted to make hay of some things in the book.

For whatever it’s worth, we can presume that the tome was completed by Abp. Gänswein a long while back. Its publication was to proceed only after the death of Benedict XVI.

Distressed commentary on unofficial translated excerpts have flooded the conservative online Catholic world, especially in the USA. These might or might not be overreaction to the book’s actual contents, but such responses surprise no one, especially from (justifiably) irate conservative Catholics. And the times are thick with tension and controversy at the Vatican.

I can’t wait to read the book myself and learn more about Benedict’s pontificate up close — when an English translation is finally out. (Thus far, an English language publisher has yet to pick it up.)

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FINALLY: ONE OVERVIEW OF THESE EVENTS

WATCH: Raymond Arroyo’s THE WORLD OVER

Guests: Vatican correspondent Ed Pentin and Fr. Fessio of Ignatius Press:
January 12, 2023

TOPICS:
Cardinal Pell, Requiescat in pace;
Benedict XVI’s Papal Secretary Georg Ganswein’s new book which may ruffle some feathers at the Vatican: (how the Pope Emeritus learned about and reacted to Pope Francis’ Traditiones custodes contradicting his own Summorum pontificum which had the effect of promoting the Traditional Latin Mass; how Pope Francis treated him after a little dustup over a book);
Remembering George Cardinal Pell.

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As all Catholics should do, I pray, too, for the eternal repose of the good cardinal’s soul.

FOR CARDINAL GEORGE PELL:

Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine.
Et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Requiescat in pace.
Amen.

Eternal rest, grant unto him, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace.
Amen.

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YES, THERE HAS BEEN MUCH INTRIGUE AND MYSTERY HERE that will engage both Catholics and non-Catholics alike. With all these afoot, it behooves us Catholics to pray even more, especially the rosary, for these horribly wayward sons of the Church. 🙏

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