In his Easter message, Cardinal George Pell asks ‘why did this happen to me?’
Cardinal George Pell has written of his inner turmoil during his time in jail and questioned the extent of suffering in the world, including COVID-19 in an Easter address.
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In his Easter message, Cardinal George Pell has asked why there is so much suffering in the world.
Cardinal Pell was released from prison on Tuesday after Australia’s High Court quashed five convictions for child sexual abuse, over allegations he assaulted two choirboys at a Melbourne Cathedral in the 1990s.
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“I have just spent 13 months in jail for a crime I didn’t commit, one disappointment after another. I knew God was with me, but I didn’t know what He was up to, although I realised He has left all of us free,” he wrote in the message published in The Australian.
But with every blow it was a consolation to know I could offer it to God for some good purpose like turning the mass of suffering into spiritual energy.
“Every person suffers. None escapes all the time. Everyone is confronted with a couple of questions. What should I do in this situation? Why is there so much evil and suffering? And why did this happen to me? Why the coronavirus pandemic?
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Cardinal Pell wrote that the sexual abuse crisis damaged thousands of victims.
“From many points of view the crisis is also bad for the Catholic Church, but we have painfully cut out a moral cancer and this is good,” he wrote.
“He said everyone suffers, prompting questions about what to do. “Why is there so much evil and suffering. And why did this happen to me,” he said.
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The cardinal also recognised the coronavirus pandemic as a unique moment for people of his generation and younger.
While the virus could be compared to the Spanish flu pandemic of the Black Death, we have capacity now to fight the infection intelligently and mitigate its spread, he said.
“My generation and those younger are passing through a unique moment. It is not unprecedented. We were not alive for the Spanish flu pandemic after World War I, somewhat comparable so far, and we have heard of the terrible Black Death in the 14th century, where one-third of the population died in some places. What is new is our capacity to fight the disease intelligently, mitigate the spread.”
Originally published as In his Easter message, Cardinal George Pell asks ‘why did this happen to me?’
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