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Australia’s Cardinal at the Papal Conclave in Rome, George Pell has come under fire for remarks he made about pope Benedict, reports Melbourne’s Age.
Pell criticised the outgoing Pope, saying that despite being a great theologian and a brilliant teacher, governance and government wasn’t his strong point and that Benedict’s resignation leaves future Pontiffs vulnerable.
Pell also dismissed priest paedophilie and sex abuse scandals as the greatest issue facing the Church, proffering that the biggest problem the Church faces is the spread of unbelief in the first world.
However Professor Neil Ormerod, of the Australian Catholic University, dismissed Pell’s comments as just “posturing” and signalling to cardinals what attributes Cardinal Pell wants to see in the next pope.
Father Michael Elligate, priest at St Carthage’s University parish in Parkville said Cardinal Pell’s comment that the greatest issue facing the Catholic Church was not sexual abuse but declining belief amid the developed world was ”appalling”.
Other Australian Catholics are similarly critical.
Community activist Father Bob Maguire praised Benedict’s resignation, saying it proved the Holy Spirit still moved amid the bureaucracy at the Vatican.
”As Vatican II said, ‘Open the windows and let the fresh air in.’ Lo and behold, Benedict XVI appears to have opened the windows,” Father Maguire said.
Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said he did not want to speculate on whether the resignation would destabilise future Popes. ”I trust the church and I trust the papacy,” he said.
He said he took the ailing Pope’s decision in good faith. ”He has conscientiously done what he believes to be right and it is what the church has long provided for,” he said.
Asked if Cardinal Pell’s comments signalled his aspirations to become pontiff, Archbishop Hart said: ”Not at all.”
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