No change under new Pope, cardinal predicts
Oct 07, 2005
For Catholics seeking changes in Church teachings on such issues as married priests or the use of condoms in the war against AIDS, Sydney’s Archbishop Cardinal George Pell offered little hope in a landmark talk last Sunday night.
(onlinecatholics.com.au, 28 September 2005) Speaking to a predominantly Jewish audience at Mandelbaum House, University of Sydney, on directions the Church might take over the next decade under Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Pell predicted the rapid demise of liberal Catholicism among young people and expressed admiration for examples of the devotion of lay people in organisations such as Opus Dei.
On the question of condoms the cardinal said he rejected claims for their efficacy and said they created “an inflated sense of protection”.
Concerning stem cell research, Cardinal Pell said he supported adult stem cell research and observed the progress of using cells from nasal tissue, but he rejected the use of embryos as human spare parts factories.
Asked about celibacy and the sexual culture of our time, he was equally adamant.
“I do think the pressures on the clergy today are precisely because of the pansexualism of society,” he said. “But even the pansexualism of today though would be considerably less than in the time of the Roman Empire and paganism.”
Cardinal Pell conceded that most priests for the first thousand years in the life of the Church were married, and quite a number of priests today are married. But he said he didn’t favour abandoning compulsory celibacy.
“I don't favour the abandoning of the discipline of compulsory celibacy in the Western Church for the clergy for a number of reasons. It could be changed. The Church could ordain married men. So I tell our seminarians ‘It's never going to work the other way. You'll never be able to be ordained and then go looking for a wife.’ The Church might change its discipline and ordain married men [but] I'm not in favour of that for a number of practical and spiritual reasons.”
Cardinal Pell said that compulsory celibacy was part of the world the Church has built through the sacrifices of unmarried people, priests and brothers and nuns.
“Of course we have had scandals,” he said. “Unfortunately marriage is no protection against paedophilia. Most of the crimes of paedophilia are committed by married people.”
Cardinal Pell said that allowing priests to marry could invite other problems.
“I know that the public notoriety that I have had here and there that my family has found it rather difficult. I know that the children of Protestant and Anglican ministers often find it very difficult indeed.
“I have spoken with women [who are] married to priests who were formerly Anglicans and became Catholics. They say that the demands that the Anglican people put on their married clergy are much less than the demands put on Catholic clergy.”
Allowing priests to marry would weaken their pastoral effectiveness considerably he added.
“If you are married you've got to take it seriously and give time to your wife and children. So it's a big issue. But I am not supporting any change.”
Concerning Pope Benedict, Cardinal Pell said:
“It is not without significance that the Catholic Church was able to choose a German. I am not sure how long ago that would have been impossible. At the end of a press conference in Rome one of the reporters said ‘What does it mean that the Catholic Church has chosen a German as Pope?’ I said I think it means that the Second World War is finally over and that we can turn the page on that appalling section of history.
“A young German woman who works in the Vatican Radio came up to me and said she was very pleased that I said that because even today you can't imagine how difficult it sometimes can be even in other parts of Europe travelling around and saying that you're German.”
Cardinal Pell said his father had worked well with Jewish people and always spoke well of them, and he felt that this attitude was shared by the vast majority of Australian Catholics.
No change under new Pope, cardinal predicts