Cardinal Pell . . . Still Under Attack From Secularists
By JOHN YOUNG
MELBOURNE — The savage attacks on George Cardinal Pell, during his life and continuing now after his death, show what can be expected in today’s society by those who publicly proclaim the truth. Of course, it’s not new: God was crucified for it and most of His twelve apostles were martyred.
Cardinal Pell proclaimed the truth whether it was popular or not. He took action against unorthodox priests and others in senior positions when he was archbishop of Melbourne and later as cardinal archbishop of Sydney. He reformed the diocesan seminaries in those cities, at least as far as he was able to. He encouraged orthodox movements, including Opus Dei.
Inevitably modernists in the Church were hostile to him, and so were the secularists opposed to the Catholic Church. Among other things he committed the “heresy” of questioning global warming. He incurred undying hostility from some in the homosexual movement when, as archbishop of Melbourne, he banned homosexuals in rainbow colors from coming up to receive Holy Communion in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
He opposed abortion and encouraged the pro-life movement, when most of the Australian bishops chose to remain silent or almost silent about the murder of preborn babies.
In secular society Christians in political life are tolerated provided they remain silent about the evils of that society; otherwise, they can expect to be attacked. An example in Australia is Tony Abbott, at one time prime minister of the country. He has been insultingly called “the Mad Monk,” presumably because as a young man he studied for the priesthood. He is disliked because he has sound values.
There is another reason too: He was a good friend of Cardinal Pell. When the cardinal was falsely imprisoned Abbott visited him and was criticized in the media for having done so.
That prison sentence was an appalling injustice. The evidence was not simply insufficient to justify a guilty verdict: The evidence showed him to be innocent. Eventually of course the High Court of Australia overturned that verdict in a unanimous decision.
Three articles of mine on the case were published in The Wanderer.
The attacks continue. It is asserted, against the evidence, that Pell failed to take action against child molesters, when in fact, as archbishop of Melbourne, he set in place guidelines that were later followed in other places. These guidelines were praised by Jeff Kennett, premier of Victoria at the time.
What we have seen since the cardinal’s death, particularly in Australia, is an outburst of hate, encouraged by sections of the media. This shows in the faces of the protesters as they shout their slogans. It is the manifestation of an anti-Christian mindset.
In 1948 Cardinal Spellman, archbishop of New York, visited Australia, accompanied by (then Monsignor) Fulton Sheen. In his talks Sheen pointed out that Catholics no longer face the opposition from Protestants that was a feature of the past. Today, he said, we face the anti-Church; we face paganism. As he put it in his oratorical way, it is no longer opposition from Peter Pan, but of Peter versus Pan: The Church versus paganism.
Western society today is secular and is increasingly promoting anti-Christian and anti-human ideas, including the killing of preborn babies and encouragement of the elderly to kill themselves. The essential differences between men and women are being denied, together with the very nature of sexuality. Hence the contradiction known as gay marriage. And increasingly the law is being employed to enforce these ideas, making it illegal to promote the truth.
That is the background to the opposition, and even hatred, that has followed Cardinal Pell to the grave. The modern lynch mob is still attacking him.
God has a different view of the matter. “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11,12).
We can be confident that Cardinal Pell is in Heaven, and this may lead his supporters to omit praying for his soul. But we can’t be certain he is not in Purgatory. There is a tendency when some holy person dies to be sure he is in Heaven, but it is the wrong attitude. We should still pray for such a person. We can’t have complete certainty that they did not go to Purgatory; and if in fact they don’t need prayers those prayers won’t be wasted but will help souls who are in Purgatory.
We can be sure of one thing: Cardinal Pell still has a keen interest in this world that he has left and is praying for us.