For Card Gracias, Card Pell, who died yesterday, was a ‘man of faith’ without bitterness
Card Pell, who served as archbishop of Sydney and of Melbourne as well as prefect of the Vatican dicastery for the economy, died suddenly yesterday in Rome at the age of 81. He spent more than 400 days in prison following a conviction based on slanderous charges of paedophilia, which were overturned by Australia’s High Court. The archbishop of Bombay remembers him. The two met last September in India to discuss the family, which to him was “extremely important for the revitalisation of Christian life.” He was still “talking about the future,” not the past.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – Many Catholic Churches in Asia are remembering with emotion the figure of Australian Cardinal George Pell, prefect emeritus of the Secretariat for the Economy at the Vatican, who passed away yesterday evening in Rome at the age of 81.
The cardinal, who died from complications following a hip replacement after he attended the funeral of Benedict XVI on 5 January, served as archbishop of Sydney from 2001 to 2014.
Appointed first as auxiliary bishop and then archbishop of Melbourne, he also headed Caritas Australia. In all these roles, he had the opportunity to cast his attentive gaze on the journey of the peoples of Asia.
Called to Rome by Pope Francis, he was tasked with reforming the Secretariat for the Economy, but his work was abruptly interrupted by slanderous charges of paedophilia dating back to the time when he was parish priest in his hometown of Ballarat.
In order to face these charges and defend himself, he left the Vatican office to return to his homeland proclaiming his innocence.
In 2018, the District Court of the State of Victoria convicted him giving him a six-year prison sentence. Only after more than 400 days behind bars did the High Court of Australia (the country’s final court of appeal) exonerate him in April 2020 by a unanimous decision.
Card Pell described the sad affairs in a memoir titled Prison Journal: The High Court Frees an Innocent Man. Pope Francis publicly thanked him for this testimony.
“His many strengths were widely recognized, both in Australia and around the world,” reads a statement signed by Mgr Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference.
From Mumbai, Card Oswald Gracias also remembers him, the two having worked together for a long time in the Council of Cardinals, and before that, in the Vox Clara commission, which Pell chaired, producing the latest translation of the Missal into English between 2000 and 2002.
For the Archbishop of Bombay, Cardinal Pell was a good friend, “a man of vision, dedicated to his people.” What is more, “I was personally convinced, knowing him, that the accusations [against him] are false."
Card Pell was in Mumbai last September at a meeting on the future of family and marriage in Asia sponsored by the Austin Institute, which is dedicated to the study of the family and culture.
"Pell wanted to strengthen tradition. That was his whole philosophy, theology and spirituality. He would always go back to the roots and insist on that,” Card Gracias explained.
Likewise, he focused on the “family, of course, the family was extremely important for the revitalisation of Christian life. [. . .] The meeting was held in Bombay (Mumbai) at his suggestion.”
With respect to his legal woes, “He was not a man to be frightened”. When he came to Mumbai, “he did not speak about his problems at all; he had overcome that. He was talking about the future, the work of the Church.”
Above all, “He was not bitter at all about his experience. [. . .] He struck me” as a “man of God, a man of prayer, a man of faith, [. . .] a “man without bitterness, [. .. ] a man of determination” who “rose above it. He had overcome the past completely and had moved ahead. [. . .] I was personally impressed by that.”
.png)
07/04/2020 09:22
