Cardinal showed faith and courage in face of injustice

The passing of George Pell is a sad day for Catholics, Christians of various affiliations and indeed the wider community. Cardinal Pell was a devout man who preached the gospel as he understood it without fear or favour.

As archbishop of Melbourne he instituted the Melbourne Response, which was an attempt to begin to deal with the scourge of sexual abuse by the clergy and to provide some form of redress. In Pell’s later years Pope Francis called him to the mammoth task of sorting out the Vatican’s fin­ances because he knew well that the cardinal from Australia was squeaky clean and would apply himself wholeheartedly to the task. It remains a disgrace for the state of Victoria that this decent man served over a year in prison for crimes he did not commit. May he rest in eternal peace.

Peter Curtis, Werribee South, Vic

Steadfast in his determination to prove truth to power during his 400 days of unjust incarceration, Cardinal Pell pursued the righting of a wrong with quiet dignity. And when the High Court ruled 7-0 in Pell’s favour, the travesty he had previously incurred was unanimously confirmed. Good on him. Vindication, writ large. Indeed, telling it like it is, Pell in his excellent article penned last year for this newspaper, “Sustaining our liberal ideals the best hope in dark times”, calls out the post-Christian vacuum that is being filled by the pseudo-religion of climate change, “with the sacrificial offering of fossil fuels, of coal and oil”. And the nonsense of virtuous Australia failing to build new coal-fired power stations, compared with sensible foes and allies who do not. As Tess Livingstone notes in her informative obituary (11/1), his episcopal motto was Be Not Afraid. A man who walked his talk. RIP Cardinal Pell.

Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW

There will be those who will be almost rejoicing at the death of Cardinal George Pell; not so those who believe in the key principles that underpin Christianity and justice. Pell was wrongly convicted of a crime he claimed he never committed, a conviction later overturned on appeal. Yet there are those, including some in the media, who refuse to accept his innocence. How sad is that. While a non-Catholic, I admire Pell for the courage he demonstrated throughout his ordeal and I commend him for his undisputed faith, which no doubt played a major part in him being able to carry on in the face of negative public opinion and the shame and condemnation this brought on him. We could learn much from Pell’s strength and his faith. May Cardinal George Pell rest in peace.

John George, Terrigal, NSW

Thank you, Tess Livingstone, for your insightful and informative article on the life of the brave, fearless, faithful Cardinal George Pell. Your use of Rudyard Kipling’s beautiful poem If is a perfect description of a man whose faith in God and service to his fellow human beings, particularly through times of tribulation and pain, never wavered. The God he served with love and diligence is welcoming him with open arms.

Mary-Anne Higgins, Rose Park, SA

There is a particular poignancy that Cardinal George Pell has died within days of Pope Benedict XVI. Both men in their own spheres were committed to upholding church orthodoxy in the face of demands to capitulate to the spirit of the age. To our own nation’s shame, Pell in 2018 was on trial for not just his own alleged sins but also the failings of a historic establishment. Regrettably, to many who were bound to uphold the presumption of innocence or stand above partisan politics, the man and the movement were viewed as one and the same.

In Victoria, after Pell was declared innocent by the High Court after languishing in prison for more than 400 days, there were no sentiments of regret offered by the Premier or Victoria Police for the miscarriage of justice that was formally declared against a religious leader.

The reason was obvious: despite his good intentions in the past at bringing to light incidents of sordid abuse, Pell became the embodiment of all that is despised about Catholicism; the desire for punitive restitution was projected on to his weary shoulders, especially by the public broadcaster and the more progressive media outlets. I feel that there are many who will regret their dismissive sneers against someone who sought to maintain the integrity of his office.

Peter Waterhouse, Craigieburn, Vic