Tainted Pell out of Race after Lobbying

By Barney Zwartz
Mudgee Guardian
March 11, 2013

http://www.mudgeeguardian.com.au/story/1354659/tainted-pell-out-of-race-after-lobbying/?cs=7

Cardinal George Pell, tainted by sex abuse scandals, has no chance of becoming the 266th pope after Australian critics campaigned to publicise allegations that have long dogged him to Italian media and voting cardinals, according to Australian commentator Paul Collins.

Following traditionalist guardians quick to report Australian infractions to Rome, progressive Catholics have lobbied overseas journalists and cardinals to make sure they are aware of the 2002 inquiry into allegations the Sydney Archbishop molested a 12-year-old boy several times in 1961.

Retired Supreme Court judge A. J. Southwell was ''not satisfied the complaint was established'' but said he was impressed by the testimony of both the complainant and the cardinal.

''The judge never cleared Pell and that has rendered Pell irrelevant. He has no chance,'' Dr Collins, a former priest, said.

Another problem for the cardinal was that his patrons - the former pope and other influential cardinals - had lost power. ''In Italy, without patrons, you're gone.''

Cardinal Pell is fifth on ''the dirty dozen'' list compiled by victims group SNAP of 12 cardinals it said should be disqualified because of their record on clergy sex abuse. It said Cardinal Pell blamed a smear campaign by the media and was morally compromised.

After a week of meetings in Rome in which the cardinals gathered nine times, it seems two broad camps have emerged. The old guard, which is backing Brazilian cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, wants a ''steady as she goes'' program and, in particular, to avoid large-scale reform of the scandal-racked bureaucracy.

The reformers, led by Milan Archbishop Angelo Scola, think Vatican change is vital. This bloc includes most American cardinals and Austrian Christoph Schonborn, who has perhaps the best credentials on tackling clergy sex abuse.

''Collegiality'', code for freedom from repressive Vatican autocracy, was an issue in 2005, but it has risen to near the top of the agenda after a series of highly publicised scandals, factional fighting and cronyism in the past couple of years showed a bureaucracy in disarray. It was the first serious item for discussion at the cardinals' preparatory meetings last week.

The Vatican cardinals pushed for a quick conclave, hoping to cut the amount of awkward questioning about the scandals and impose their candidate before reformers could form alliances. They lost this battle but they managed to silence the American cardinals, who were holding popular news conferences.

But the leaks to which the old guard objected, particularly about the grilling they faced on the ''Vatileaks'' scandal, came not from Americans but from Italian cardinals to Italian journalists in time-honoured style.

''The Italians are playing very hard ball,'' Dr Collins said, ''but the harder they go the more they get people's backs up. It's like Custer's last stand. They know a lot of them are for the chop.''