Victims Call for Pell to Stand down
By Barney Zwartz
Cardinal George Pell has failed Australia's 5 million Catholics as a religious and moral leader and must be told to stand down as Sydney Archbishop, according to a petition by a clergy sexual abuse victims' group to the Pope's Australian ambassador. ''Cardinal Pell is a spiritually impotent leader, a leader who presents no empathy, no moral judgment and no felt deep concern for victims, a leader who is avoiding responsibility for the immorality and sodomy that has been breeding in his house of God,'' says the petition to papal nuncio Archbishop Paul Gallagher. ''It is time for the Roman Catholic Church in Australia to change, and the starting point is for Cardinal George Pell to stand down. He is part of the problem, not the solution.'' The request by victims' advocacy group COIN comes as another petition, launched last month by Sydney Catholic Bishop Geoffrey Robinson calling for a global church council to tackle the scourge of clergy sexual abuse, has passed 80,000 signatures. Bishop Robinson said on Sunday that he was happy with the response, ''but we've only been going a few weeks, and this is just the beginning''. COIN president Bryan Keon-Cohen, QC, said the petition reflected community sentiment that the church continued to focus on damage control rather then fundamental reform. ''It also reflects the community's view that George Pell's time has passed. Whatever good or bad he has done, he appears incapable of coming to terms with the enormity of the problem and the need for change in the Catholic Church,'' Mr Keon-Cohen said. ''He believes he is part of the solution because he believes in the standing and reputation of his church, and fails to understand that things have changed. It's a culture that says the church can do no wrong, and must be protected above all else - a mediaeval doctrine that has no place in modern society.'' Meanwhile, Cardinal Pell has expressed concern for the health of Pope Francis because of the ''cracking pace'' he has set since his election in March. The cardinal is one of an eight-member advisory committee to the Pope. Cardinal Pell told Italian website Vatican Insider the Pope was ''doing very well''. He said the Pope understood the power of symbols and was influencing the whole church. ''He certainly doesn't want the Vatican to be seen as a Renaissance court … but rather as a place where people are serious about serving Christ and serving the people. He's certainly not into pomp and circumstance.'' Cardinal Pell said the Pope was taking seriously his Jesuit vow of poverty, a vow ''most of the rest of us have not taken''. He suggested that significant reform of the Vatican bureaucracy would happen, and there should be annual external audits, but discipline and morale needed to be improved. ''Rather than starting with a grand reconfiguration of the Curia - which incidentally I think to some significant extent will happen - I think we should try to look at particular problems such as, for example, do we have enough typists in the Vatican? How many people with doctorates are spending their time typing?'' Both petitions can be found at change.org.
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