4 Takeaways From Cardinal Pell’s Holy Saturday TV Interview

National Catholic Register, 17 April 2020

The Australian cardinal addressed key issues associated with his wrongful conviction and imprisonment, including the incendiary claim that it might have been desired by corrupt officials in Rome.

For the first time since July 2017, Cardinal George Pell spoke at length. In a television interview taped on Holy Saturday at a seminary in Sydney, he answered questions for nearly an hour about his ordeal, which ended with a thumping acquittal by Australia’s High Court the previous Tuesday. In the course of his answers, Cardinal Pell made four important points and addressed the incendiary claim that his wrongful conviction in Melbourne might have been desired by corrupt officials in Rome.

Suffering of the Innocent

Asked about how he endured the charges, the public defamation, the trials and the incarceration, Cardinal Pell insisted that his inner peace was not disturbed because he knew that he was innocent. The only time during the interview that he appeared annoyed was when he was asked if he had considered suicide.

“I am a Christian!” he replied, incredulous that the possibility would be raised.

Cardinal Pell’s answer clarified what is true for Christians, above all during Holy Week. The suffering, even death, of the innocent is not a theological problem for Christians. If Jesus, innocent of all sin, could be falsely condemned to death, then the suffering of the innocent does not pose a challenge to the faith on a theological level.

However, suffering of any kind can be a spiritual or psychological challenge. On a spiritual level, Cardinal Pell has written that he was greatly comforted by the knowledge that he could unite his sufferings to those of Christ on the cross. That, and his daily spiritual routine, keep his spiritual equilibrium in balance. Psychologically, Cardinal Pell said he was buoyed up by the stalwart support of friends and strangers who wrote him thousands of letters and sent him articles and books to read.

The interview did not address the issue of why Cardinal Pell was not allowed to celebrate Mass privately for his 400 days in prison, most them spent in solitary confinement. Whether or not this restriction was ever challenged on either religious freedom or humanitarian grounds, either by Cardinal Pell himself or the local diocese, was not mentioned.

Vatican Financial Reform

The most news-making part of the interview was Cardinal Pell’s comments on Vatican financial reform, which he had been in charge of until his departure for Australia in July 2017.

In 2014, Cardinal Pell’s new department, the Secretariat for the Economy (SPE), was given sweeping new powers by Pope Francis to approve and audit all departments of the Holy See. A ferocious pushback came from key financial centers of authority, including the Secretariat of State. In July 2016, Pope Francis reversed himself, restricting the authority of the SPE. In June 2017, the Australian auditor general, a key figure in the financial reform, was pushed out by the Secretariat of State.

By the time Cardinal Pell left Rome for Australia, the Vatican financial reform had suffered serious setbacks. Had the cardinal overreached and needed to be restrained? Or had he discovered genuine corruption, hence the efforts to disable the reforms by those in danger of being exposed?

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