George Pell: Ballarat publican’s son rose to Vatican

George Pell, son of a Ballarat publican, has a career unmatched by any other Australian clergyman.

George Pell, son of a Ballarat publican, has a career unmatched by any other Australian clergyman.

He used his intelligence and imposing character to rise through the ranks of the church in Australia before being appointed by Pope Francis in 2014 to manage the Vatican­’s economy.

William Uren, the rector at the University of Melbourne’s Newman College, said yesterday that Cardinal Pell was a very distinguished churchman.

“I don’t think he had a charmed life by any means: I think everything he got he earned,” Father Uren said. “He is obviously very intelligent and he is very personable, he has an imposing personality, so once he got all those qualifications it was only a matter of time before he was considered to become a bishop.

“He is pretty outstanding intellectually and personality wise and very competent in a managerial point of view.”

Cardinal Pell, 76, completed his priest studies in 1966 at Corpus Christi College in outer Melbourne’s Werribee before being posted to the diocese of Ballarat. He went on to get further education at Urban University Rome in 1967 and completed his doctorate at Oxford in 1971.

He served as an assistant priest in the Ballarat diocese churches of Swan Hill and Ballarat East, before being appointed the administrator of Bungaree parish in 1984.

He was ordained the auxiliary bishop of Melbourne in 1987, a position he held until 1996 when John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Melbourne.

Five years on, he became the most senior Catholic in Australia when, as the Archbishop of Sydney, he was appointed a cardinal.

In 2003, John Paul II elevated him to the Sacred College of Cardinals, colloquially known as the princes of the church. After John Paul II’s death in 2005, Cardinal Pell travelled to Vatican City to help elect Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Pell was noted for his conservative views on homosexuality, contraception, abortion and divorce. Perhaps paradoxically, his ascent through Vatican ranks escalated under the more liberal Pope Francis. In 2013 he was one of eight cardinals appointed to advise the Pope on the health of the church globally and how it could be reformed to encourage growth.

The following year, Cardinal Pell became the world’s third-most-senior Catholic when he was ­appointed Prefect for the Economy in the Vatican.

Pope Francis yesterday granted Cardinal Pell leave so he could come to Australia and defend historical sex abuse charges.

“The Holy Father, who has ­appreciated Cardinal Pell’s honesty­ during his three years of work in the Roman Curia, is grateful for his collaboration and, in particular, for his energetic dedication to the reforms in the economic and administrative sector,” a Vatican spokesman said.