Suffering pontiff lives his teachings: Pell: [2 All-round First Edition]
John Stapleton, Vanessa Walker. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 17 Oct 2003: 10.
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Abstract
GEORGE Pell, shortly to become the nation’s seventh cardinal, made his final public appearance last night as Archbishop of Sydney before leaving for Rome for his elevation to the College of Cardinals.
At a packed mass last night at the Catholic Church’s most historic Australian cathedral, St Mary’s in Sydney, Dr Pell led a congregation of more than 3000 in a celebration of the Pope’s life and silver jubilee.
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GEORGE Pell, shortly to become the nation’s seventh cardinal, made his final public appearance last night as Archbishop of Sydney before leaving for Rome for his elevation to the College of Cardinals.
Dr Pell will receive the red hat signifying his elevation from Pope John Paul II on Tuesday. This means he will be one of the 135 senior clergy who will elect the next pope.
At a packed mass last night at the Catholic Church’s most historic Australian cathedral, St Mary’s in Sydney, Dr Pell led a congregation of more than 3000 in a celebration of the Pope’s life and silver jubilee.
He said John Paul II had repeated and developed his central themes in many different forms of teaching, explaining the liberating effect of truth.
He said some of the Pope’s politically incorrect encyclicals — including those condemning abortion and euthanasia — had caused great debate in the secular world.
“There’s no easy courting of popularity, no shirking of challenges,” Dr Pell said.
“The centre of the Pope’s work is the question of the meaning of human life.” Dr Pell said there was a radical secular view that if a life was made of suffering, there was no point in living.
“John Paul has addressed this intellectually, and more recently with the public performance of his duties at such great cost,” he said.
The Pope, 83, is suffering from Parkinson’s disease and has been in increasingly ill health.
“He struggles wearily on, helped only by Christ’s power driving him on irresistibly,” Dr Pell said. “We thank God for his presence … for his teaching and his character.”