| His Eminence George Pell AC |
|
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Sydney | |
| See | Sydney |
| Enthroned | 26 March 2001 |
| Reign ended | incumbent |
| Predecessor | Edward Bede Clancy |
| Other posts | Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne (1987–96) Archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 16 December 1966 |
| Consecration | 21 May 1987 |
| Created Cardinal | 21 October 2003 |
| Rank | Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Domenica Mazzarello |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 June 1941 Ballarat, Victoria |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
George Pell AC (born 8 June 1941) is an Australian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the eighth and current Archbishop of Sydney, serving since 2001.[1] He previously served as auxiliary bishop (1987–96) and archbishop (1996–2001) of the Archdiocese of Melbourne.[2] He was created a cardinal in 2003.[3]
Pell was born in Ballarat, Victoria, to George Arthur and Margaret Lillian (née Burke) Pell.[3] His father, a non-practising Anglican whose ancestors were from Leicestershire in England, was a heavyweight boxing champion; his mother was a devout Catholic of Irish descent.[4] During World War II, his father served in the Australian Defence Force.[4] His sister, Margaret, became a violinist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.[5] As a child, he underwent twenty-four operations to remove an abscess in his throat.[4]
Pell received his early education at Loreto Convent and at St. Patrick's College, both in his native Ballarat.[1] One of his classmates at St. Patrick's was Paul Bongiorno.[4] At St Patrick's, Pell played as a ruckman on the first XVIII from 1956 to 1959.[5] He even signed to play with the Richmond Football Club.[3] However, his ambitions later turned to the priesthood. Speaking of his decision to become a priest, Pell once said, "To put it crudely, I feared and suspected and eventually became convinced that God wanted me to do His work, and I was never able to successfully escape that conviction."[4]
In 1960, he began his priestly studies at Corpus Christi College, then located in Werribee.[1] One of his fellow seminarians at Corpus Christi was Denis Hart, Pell's future successor as archbishop of Melbourne.[4] Pell continued to play football, and served as class prefect in his second and third years.[4] In 1963, he was assigned to continue his studies at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.[5] He was ordained to the diaconate on 15 August 1966.[3]
On 16 December 1966, Pell was ordained a priest by Cardinal Grégoire-Pierre Agagianian at St. Peter's Basilica.[2] He received a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from the Urbaniana University in 1967, and continued his studies at the University of Oxford, where he earned a Ph.D in church history in 1971.[3] During his studies at Oxford, he also served as a chaplain to Catholic students at Eton, where he celebrated the first Roman Catholic Mass since the Protestant Reformation.[4]
In 1971, he returned to Australia and was assigned to serve as an assistant pastor in Swan Hill, where he remained for two years.[3] He then served at a parish in Ballarat East from 1973 to 1983, becoming administrator of the parish of Bungaree in 1984.[3] In 1982, he earned a Master of Education degree from Monash University in Melbourne.[1] During his tenure in Ballarat East and Bungaree, he also served as Episcopal Vicar for Education (1973–84), director of the Aquinas campus of the Institute of Catholic Education (1974–84), and principal of the Institute of Catholic Education (1981–84).[1] He was also editor of Light, the diocesan newspaper of Ballarat, from 1979 to 1984.[3]
From 1985 to 1987, Pell served as seminary rector of his alma mater, Corpus Christi College.[1]
Pell was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne and Titular Bishop of Scala on 30 March 1987. He received his episcopal consecration on 21 May 1987 from Archbishop Frank Little, with bishops Ronald Mulkearns and Joseph O'Connell serving as co-consecrators. He served as Bishop for the Southern Region of Melbourne (1987–96). During this time, he was a parish priest in Mentone.[1]
Pell was named seventh Archbishop of Melbourne on 16 July 1996, receiving the pallium from Pope John Paul II on 29 June 1997. He was later appointed eighth Archbishop of Sydney on 26 March 2001 and again received the pallium from John Paul on 29 June 2001.
Pell was a consultor of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 1990 to 1995 and a member from 2002. From 1990 to 2000 he was a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In April 2002, John Paul II named him President of the Vox Clara commission to advise the Congregation for Divine Worship on English translations of liturgical texts. In December 2002 he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family, having previously served as a consultor to the council.
Pell has written widely in religious and secular magazines, learned journals and newspapers in Australia and overseas and regularly speaks on television and radio. In September 1996 Oxford University Press published his Issues of Faith and Morals, written for senior secondary classes and parish groups. His other publications include The Sisters of St Joseph in Swan Hill 1922–72 (1972), Catholicism in Australia (1988), Rerum Novarum – One Hundred Years Later (1992), Catholicism and the Architecture of Freedom (1999) and Be Not Afraid, a collection of homilies and reflections published in 2004. A biography of Pell was published by Queensland journalist Tess Livingstone in 2002.
Since Pell's appointment as Archbishop of Melbourne he has maintained a high public profile on a wide range of issues, while retaining a strict adherence to Catholic orthodoxy.[6]
Pell worked co-operatively with his Anglican counterpart, Peter Jensen, on political issues while avoiding theological controversies. This was referred to in Sydney as "the ecumenism of the right". In defending the importance of religious belief in building a just society, Pell worked with representatives of non-Christian faiths, arguing in 2001 that "the most significant religious change in Australia over the past 50 years is the increase of people without religion, now about one fifth of the population. All monotheists, Christians and Jews, Muslims and Sikhs, must labour to reverse this. We must not allow the situation to deteriorate as it had in Elijah's time, 850 years before Christ, where monotheism was nearly swamped by the aggressive paganism of the followers of Baal."
| Styles of George Pell |
|
|---|---|
| Reference style | His Most Reverend Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Sydney |
On 28 September 2003 Pope John Paul II announced that he would nominate [7] Pell and 28 others to the College of Cardinals. In the consistory of 21 October he was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Priest of S. Maria Domenica Mazzarello. For the first time ever, from Pell's elevation to the cardinalate in 2003 until Edward Bede Clancy's 80th birthday on 13 December 2003, there were three Australian cardinal electors (had a papal election become necessary), including Clancy and Edward Idris Cassidy, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Pell was one of the electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. It has been speculated that Pell served as a type of "campaign manager" behind Benedict's election.[8] While there was a little speculation in the Australian media that he had an outside chance of becoming Pope himself, international commentary on the papal succession (aside from one Italian source) did not mention Pell as a contender. However, Pell was mentioned as a possible successor to Benedict XVI as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.[9] This position was given to William Levada, former Archbishop of San Francisco. Pell remains eligible to participate in any future papal conclaves that begin before his 80th birthday on 8 June 2021.
In 2006 Pell made a successful bid for Sydney to host the 2008 World Youth Day, one of the largest regular international gatherings of young people in the world, often attracting crowds of millions. The 2008 event brought Pope Benedict XVI on his first papal visit to Australia. "We take it for granted that people will always give to the poor and be concerned about social justice", Pell said soon after winning the bid, in remarks which spelled out his pastoral priorities. "But this doesn't just happen by itself. Many great civilisations have shown no regard for these values at all and have even considered them weaknesses...Every society requires a goodly percentage of active believers to ensure that the values of a fair go and respect for others are promoted, and passed on the next generation. World Youth Day will make a powerful contribution to this vital work".
Pell is regarded as a conservative on matters of faith and morals.[10] He has often been wary of what he calls the "callousness" of unrestrained capitalism. He has written that a Catholic is someone who is not only a person of personal conscience but "is someone who believes Christ is Son of God, accepts His teachings and lives a life of worship, service and duty in the community. Catholics are not created by the accident of birth to remain only because their tribe has an interesting history."[11]
Pell supports, in the abstract but not as a proposal for immediate application, mandatory celebration of the Canon of the Mass with the ad orientem orientation of the priest, facing in the same direction as the congregation. "There's nothing like a consensus in favour of that at the moment. I think I would be in favour of it because it makes it patently clear that the priest is not the centre of the show, that this an act of worship of the one true God, and the people are joining with the priest for that."[12]
Pell has written that he supported the Afghanistan War but believed that the Iraq War was "not morally justified".[13]
Pell has criticised the bipartisan policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers in Australia and called for "empathy and compassion" towards displaced peoples.[14] Pell said that while a policy of detterence was justifiable, the practice of the policy was coming at too great a "moral cost".[15] Describing conditions in some of Australia's mandatory detention camps in 2001 as "pretty tight and miserable" and "no place for women and children", Pell called for investigation of any maltreatment of detainees and said that, while Australia has the right to regulate the number of refugees it accepts, as a rich and prosperous country, it can "afford to be generous" and must treat refugees who reach Australia humanely.[16]
Pell was appointed a delegate to the Australian Constitutional Convention 1998 which considered the issue of Australia becoming a republic. Pell supported change, and called on Australia's political leaders to embrace the republic, noting "Without support from most of the front benches of both sides of the parliament, it would be wasteful to go to a referendum." Towards the end of proceedings, he called on conservatives to support change:[17]
Pell says that, outside exceptional circumstances such as relationships involving physical abuse, it is better for individuals and for society if couples do not divorce, particularly where children are involved.[18]
In 2001, ABC radio's "The World Today" reported that Pell wanted a return to a divorce system based on the fault of one spouse. Pell told the program that, in an effort to "focus attention on the damage, personal and financial, that unfortunately often follows from divorce" he had prepared a list for public consideration of possible penalties to discourage divorce (particularly where fault by one party was involved); as well as benefits to support couples who stayed together. Other interviewees rejected these proposals: the Law Council's Garry Watts, said that benefits to children would not come and that Pell proposed to "imprison" unhappy parents in dysfunctional marriages. Canon Ray Cleary, director of Anglicare in Victoria said a punitive response to divorce would be "out of touch with the realities of the modern world".[19]
Pell aroused criticism from Senator Christine Milne of the Greens political party with the following comment in his 2006 Legatus Summit speech:
In a 2007 article for The Sunday Telegraph, Pell wrote that while climate had changed, he was '"certainly sceptical about extravagant claims of impending man-made climatic catastrophes, because the evidence is insufficient".[21]
Responding to the Anglican bishop and environmentalist George Browning, who told the Anglican Church of Australia's general synod that the cardinal was out of touch with the Catholic Church as well as with the general community,[22] Pell stated:
In 2009, Pell supported the comments made by Pope Benedict XVI in Africa in relation to controlling the spread of AIDS, in which the Pope reiterated the Catholic teaching that the solution to the AIDS epidemic lay not in the distribution of condoms, but in the practice of sexual abstinence and monogamy within marriage. The Pope said that AIDS could not be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which "can even increase the problem". In response to global coverage of these remarks, Pell said that AIDS was "great spiritual and health crisis" and a huge challenge, but that "Condoms are encouraging promiscuity. They are encouraging irresponsibility." Pell compared AIDS infection rates in the Catholic Philippines with that of Thailand which, he said, was struggling to cope with an epidemic of the disease.[24]
In 2010, in "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times", a book-length interview by German journalist Peter Seewald, Pope Benedict said that while the church did not consider condoms as a "real or moral solution", there were times where the "intention of reducing the risk of infection" made condom use "a first step" towards a better way. Pell released a statement saying this did not signal a major new shift in Vatican thinking.[25]
As Archbishop of Sydney, Pell has strongly supported the work of Catholic health organisations such as St Vincent's Hospital and the Tree of Hope Centre in caring for those living with HIV/AIDS.[26]
Pell has written of a need to "deepen friendship and understanding" with Muslims in the post–11 September environment and has said that though there is a continuing struggle throughout the Muslim world between moderates and men of violence, he believes that, in Australia, "the moderates are in control".[27]
In 2004, speaking to the Acton Institute on the problems of "secular democracy", Pell drew a parallel between Islam and Communism: "Islam may provide in the 21st century, the attraction that communism provided in the 20th, both for those that are alienated and embittered on the one hand and for those who seek order or justice on the other."[28]
In 2006, at the Legatus Summit in Naples, Florida, Pell declared, "Considered strictly on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion and its capacity for far-reaching renovation is severely limited."[29] However, he added that the human factor of many Muslims being uncomfortable with the violence and harsh intolerance of traditional Islamic practices provides hope for positive change as has occurred in more moderate Muslim nations. He also denounced "the blithe encouragement of large scale Islamic migration into Western nations" as "one example of the secular incomprehension of religion," and claimed that Islam has had a "detrimental impact on economic and cultural development at certain times and in certain places..."[29]
Pell supported Pope John Paul II's view that the ordination of women is impossible according to the church's divine constitution and has also expressed his opinion that abandoning the tradition of clerical celibacy would be a "serious blunder".[30]
Pell has received much attention for his attitudes to sexuality issues, particularly homosexuality. He has said that "Christian teaching on sexuality is only one part of the Ten Commandments, of the virtues and vices, but it is essential for human wellbeing and especially for the proper flourishing of marriages and families, for the continuity of the human race."[31] Upon becoming Archbishop of Sydney, he stated "Any genuine religion has two important moral tasks; firstly, to present norms and ideals, goals for our striving; and secondly, to offer aids for our weakness, forgiveness and healing for every wrong doer and sinner who repents and seeks forgiveness."[31]
Pell has expressed agreement with the lifting of the excommunication of the four bishops of the Traditionalist Catholic Society of St Pius X (SSPX). He has said that "I think it is certainly a worthy goal to try to reconcile that wing of the Church", but also insisted that the SSPX must accept the teachings of the Second Vatican Council before it can be fully reconciled with the Holy See, saying: "I think it would be quite incongruous wanting to be formally reconciled with the Church if you are explicitly disavowing key elements of Vatican II", among which he mentioned the teaching that "the state cannot coerce belief" and the council's "condemnation of anti-semitism".[32]
Pell supports research on the therapeutic potential of adult stem cells but opposes embryonic stem cell research on the basis that the church cannot support anything which involves "the destruction of human life at any stage after conception". Under Pell, the Sydney archdiocese has provided funding for adult stem cell research but has actively opposed moves by New South Wales Parliament to liberalise laws pertaining to use of embryonic stem cells.[11][33]
In remarks made at a media conference, in June 2007 on a conscience vote overturning the state ban on therapeutic cloning, Pell said that "Catholic politicians who vote for this legislation must realise that their voting has consequences for their place in the life of the Church". Some members of parliament condemned Pell's comments, calling them hypocritical and drawing comparisons with comments made earlier in the year by Sheik Hilali.[34][35] Australian Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon referred Pell's remarks to the New South Wales parliamentary privileges committee for allegedly being in "contempt of parliament". Pell described this move as a "clumsy attempt to curb religious freedom and freedom of speech".[36] In September the Committee tabled a report clearing him of this charge and recommending that no further action be taken.[37]
When John Howard departed the office of Prime Minister of Australia following the 2007 Australian federal election, Pell wrote that, along with Bob Hawke, Howard had been the outstanding figure of Australian life since Robert Menzies and that he had brought 11 years of prosperity and "changed Australian life for the better". Pell wrote that Howard "understood that traditional families are the cement which hold society together and he was generally supportive of Christian values". Pell said that Howard went a step too far on industrial relations policy and that the Iraq War did not go well, but that the "biggest blot on his record will remain the treatment of the refugees".
Pell describes himself as "an old Kennedy groupie" – referring to John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic President of the United States of America.[10]
Following the 2008 election of Barack Obama as US President, Pell wrote for The Sunday Telegraph that "Obama is a superb orator with a gift for language and a capacity to inspire loyalty and hope" and that the "importance of a black President for the U.S.A. and the world cannot be underestimated; especially a black President with a Muslim father. No country in Europe could produce such a result."
Pell expressed a need for universal health care in the United States, but criticised Obama's support for abortion, saying that he had the "most anti-life voting record of any contemporary senator" which, Pell wrote, "contrasts strongly with his humanitarianism in many other areas". Pell said that Obama would have to move beyond the "radical left" if he wanted to "win over the middle ground in the fight for healing and prosperity".[38]
In a 2009 interview with The Catholic Herald, Pell said of Obama, "[H]is record on life issues is very, very bad indeed" and expressed his opposition to the Freedom of Choice Act.[12]
When the Australian Labor Party replaced Kevin Rudd as its leader in 2010 and Julia Gillard became Australian Prime Minister of Australia, Pell wrote that "As leaders Rudd and Opposition leader Tony Abbott are historically unusual by Australian standards because both worship regularly and have publicly acknowledged the huge Christian contribution to Australia. The rise and fall of Kevin Rudd has no parallel nationally. While he talked himself out of his job with his inflated rhetoric, he had many virtues and Australia avoided recession. John Howard was voted out by the Australian public; Rudd's departure will leave a nasty taste in many mouths."[39]
In February 2010 it was reported that Pell "had a heart turn in Rome recently and that he's in hospital there or has been in hospital there". It is thought that Pell was taken to hospital when he first arrived in Rome after he collapsed due to ill health and exhaustion. He was released from hospital the same day and sources close to Pell said that he has been in good health since.[40]
In February 2007 Pell instituted new guidelines when it comes for family members to speak at funerals. He said that, "on not a few occasions, inappropriate remarks glossing over the deceased's proclivities (drinking prowess, romantic conquests etc) or about the Church (attacking its moral teachings) have been made at funeral Masses."[41] Pell's guidelines make it clear that the eulogy must never replace the officiating priest's homily, which should focus on God's compassion and the resurrection of Jesus.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney takes the role of Visitor of St John's College, a residential college within the University of Sydney. This is a largely ceremonial role but he can also be called upon to give guidance and resolve internal disputes. Under the direction of the archbishop the college associates itself with the interests of the church and its mission, particularly by the fostering of appropriate academic directions in education, charity, social justice, ethics and the environment.
Pell accepted the invitation to be patron of the Oxford University Newman Society and to deliver their inaugural St Thomas More Lecture on 6 March 2009.
Pell is a regular contributor of articles for the Australian media, including regular columns for Sydney's The Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
In June 2002, Pell was accused of having sexually abused a 12-year-old boy at a Roman Catholic youth camp in 1961 whilst a seminarian. Pell vehemently denied all the accusations and was subsequently exonerated by an inquiry chaired by Justice Alec Southwell.
Pell stood aside,[42] but did not resign, as archbishop as soon as the allegations were made public. The complainant agreed to pursue his allegations through the church's own process for dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct, the National Committee for Professional Standards (NCPS). The subsequent inquiry found that the accusations had not been established.[43] Justice Southwell concluded:[44]
[B]earing in mind the... very long delay, some valid criticism of the complainant's credibility, the lack of corroborative evidence and the sworn denial of the respondent, I find I am not 'satisfied that the complaint has been established'
Doubts about the handling of the accusation arose following the publication by the Australian Herald Sun on 6 October 2002 of details about the accuser, whose anonymity had been preserved in previous media coverage. As relayed by the Zenit news service, "Pell's alleged victim was, it turned out, a career criminal. He had been convicted of drug dealing and involved in illegal gambling, tax evasion and organized crime in a labour union. A commission probing the union devoted a whole chapter of its report to the man's activities. As the inquiry report noted, 'The complainant has been before the court on many occasions, resulting in 39 convictions from about 20 court appearances.'"[45]
| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Frank Little |
Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne 1996–2001 |
Succeeded by Denis Hart |
| Preceded by Edward Bede Clancy |
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney 2001–present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
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