Former prime minister Tony Abbott launched an extraordinary defence of Cardinal George Pell, arguing the controversial leader was a hero who was made a scapegoat for the Catholic Church.
Tony Abbott was applauded loudly by mourners inside and outside St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney on Thursday as he spoke during the funeral Mass for the late Cardinal George Pell. This is a transcript of his speech.
“In short, he’s the greatest Catholic Australia has produced and one of our country’s greatest sons. No one else has been both Archbishop of Melbourne and Archbishop of Sydney. No other Australian has been as senior in the leadership of the Roman Church, or as influential in its conclaves. “And most recently, he called a draft Vatican document, further eroding the apostolic tradition, a ‘toxic nightmare’.
“In his celebrated eulogy for another Catholic hero, B.A. Santamaria, he declared that it was ‘the mark of the false prophet, that all men speak well of him’, before observing that Bob [Santamaria] had triumphantly avoided this fate.“His recent observation that the climate change movement, quote, ‘had some of the characteristics of a low-level, not too demanding pseudo-religion’ was the kind of comment that enraged its adherents precisely because it was true.
“But had he died in jail, without the High Court’s vindication, this today would have been a very different event, even though his innocence would have been no less, had it been known only to God. “And if faith means the ability to endure crushing adversity, no one could be a better advertisement for it, especially with those of us for whom it often remains tantalisingly out of reach.“So I will hold on to him in my heart, from love of a friend and mentor, and as a gentle child for virtues sought but not yet attained.
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