Although Cardinal Pell was just 81 years old, his death in January 2023 came as a surprise. He is already greatly missed. The robust, 6’4”, former rugby player from Australia was a courageously outspoken cardinal, a confessor, and defender of the Catholic tradition.
Pell Contra Mundum is a memorial to his legacy as a champion of orthodoxy in this current time of moral and theological confusion.
The publication includes three addresses from Cardinal Pell, give within his last six months, and four essays from a selection of his coworkers in the faith: Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Danny Casey, Rev. Robert Sirico, and George Weigel. These reflections shed light on a cardinal archbishop who was not afraid to challenge those who would attempt to remake the Church in the image of the ‘spirit of the age’. (All texts in English, Italian, Spanish, and French).
The title, Pell Contra Mundum (‘against the world’), is a reference to St. Athanasius (AD 293-373), the great fourth-century hero of Christian orthodoxy who was exiled and imprisoned on numerous occasions. Athanasius refused to capitulate to the majority of bishops, rulers, and theologians of his day, who had become duped by the Arian heresy, which rejected the divinity of Christ.
Pell was consistently clear that the theological issue of our day is also Christological: Jesus is God and his teachings (on marriage, for example) are true and unalterable. Athanasius and Pell unpopularly confirmed the constant Catholic teaching, which is their prerogative: Christ established His Church, entrusting it to His Apostles and their successors (the bishops), whose mission it is to safeguard the teachings of Christ without deviation.
In the first essay, Oswald Cardinal Garcias gives a brief summary of George Cardinal Pell’s life, awarding him the title, ‘white martyr’, for his testimony as a confessor of the faith. Garcias recalls the false accusations that were made against Pell and his unjust imprisonment in solitary confinement for 404 days, during which time Pell wrote his Prison Journal, which George Weigel dubs a contemporary “spiritual classic.”
Danny Casey had been working with the cardinal since 2003 in Sydney and followed Pell to Rome when Pope Francis made Pell the Prefect of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy. Casey helped Pell make significant reforms at the Vatican Bank and writes about the financial scandals Pell had to deal with (and that persist) in the Vatican over the past 14 years.
Sirico and Weigel fill in the narrative and tie together Pell’s work history and focus.
The jewel of this book is found in Pell’s own words. In an address to Campion College, Australia, he encouraged the Catholic liberal arts students to ignore the taunts and ridicule of ‘woke’ society and not be afraid to learn and preserve the Western tradition: to “inculcate a love and pride of our tradition, just as we love our families while recognizing their failures.” In a final address, three days before he died, he honored the memory of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, as “true Christians” who “were optimistic”, who “understood the importance of the sacraments [especially the Eucharist]”, and who “understood the role of Peter’s successor in the life of the Catholic Church.”
In reference to the synodality project, the subject of an essay that was published post-mortem, Pell threw the gauntlet before the feet of his brother bishops: “The synods have to choose whether they are servants and defenders of the apostolic tradition on faith and morals, or whether their discernment compels them to assert their sovereignty over Catholic teaching… So far, the synodal way has neglected, indeed downgraded the Transcendent, covered up the centrality of Christ with appeals to the Holy Spirit, and encouraged resentment, especially among the participants.”
Pell was surprisingly optimistic, even humorous in his defiance of those who would reinvent the Church. He recognized numerous faithful Catholics working for good and encouraged them to be steadfast to the tradition. “The culture wars continue,” he noted to the students at Campion College, “and while our losses are considerable, the field has not been lost. The many victims of the chaos will be increasingly open to our message and appreciative of your help.”
Pell has passed away, but this tribute to him trumpets a challenging proclamation: Who will now champion the truths of our faith that Pell so boldly defended? Let Pell’s life be an inspiration to every bishop and cardinal working in fidelity to the Magisterium. Let the white martyr, George Pell, give you courage and hope!
Pell Contra Mundum
Edited by Robert A. Sirico
Connor Court Publishing, Sept. 2023
Paperback, 240 pages
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Amen Cardinal Pell. Pray for us.
I am Fr. Antony SDB from India. I have been keenly following the reports and the court verdicts on His eminence Card. Pell. I always thought he is a holy person. Statements made by him after his release and proven innocence by the Australian court vindicates this position. He suffered a lot for the sake of the Catholic Church and Christ. I find no reason why his cause for canonization should be delayed. Cardinal Oswald said rightly of him as a “WHITE MARTYR”.
We read from Cardinal Pell: “The synods have to choose whether they are servants and defenders of the apostolic tradition on faith and morals…”
Choose?
The thing about the “gradualism” school is that it involves no responsibility to choose, while housing two contradictory meanings. It doesn’t matter whether out compassion or stupidity or worse. The open-ended form claims instead to look at “the long term,”—possibly as in the “provisional agreement” with the Chinese commissars (?)…and possibly in a circular Synod on Synodality which, when synthesized and summarized by “the leadership” [read vanguard?], arrives at no conclusion on the bubble-wrapped “hot-button issues.”
And, therefore, becomes– “provisional” and temporary?
While there surely is no direct connection, there’s this from other illuminati in history: “…temporary agreements may be made only on the condition that they […] do not hamper the revolutionary organization [or “structure,” as under Cardinal McElroy & Co.?] […] and that they carry on a genuine struggle against imperialism [read “backwardist rigidity”?]” (from “The Program of the Third Communist International,” 1928).
Here only a distant analogy (!) and surely not even an agenda (!), but maybe for some synodalists still a predisposing attitude or “implicit bias,” such that the lyrics sometimes seem to rhyme?
Cardinal Pell was a great and good Australian. As an Australian I was and am horrified at the injustice of the whole legal process against Cardinal Pell – (I have also seen it in other instances ) it signals to me a collapse of principles that made Australia a good country – principles such as fairness, egalitarianism, mateship, helping neighbours, – Australia still has highest rate of volunteers in world – but I don’t think for much longer . These principles were based in the faith of the convict heritage of this country – itself a dark and tragic history but that suffering paid big dividends – I fear that this country is losing its soul now that wealth and prosperity are in abundance.
Just a little error – Pell played Australian Rules football, also known as Aussie Rules, which is something like Gaelic football, not Rugby, either Union or League.