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The Truth about George Pell’s Prison Letter

By Tess Lawrence
Australian Times
October 8, 2019

https://www.australiantimes.co.uk/at/opinion-the-truth-about-george-pells-prison-letter/

Cardinals Pell and Muller: battling for their vision of the Church of Rome. (triablogue.blogspot.com)

Just hours before the Amazon Synod wasndue to start, in what amounts to a Declaration of War against Pope Francis, Cardinal Muller has released two films on YouTube based on his written Manifesto of Faith.

Cardinal George Pell’s malevolent crusade against Pope Francis remains as vigorous as his disdain and notorious self-professed disinterest for victims of child sex abuse.

In shocking and curious timing on 1 August, Cardinal George Pell’s supporters published a seemingly innocuous two-page letter the convicted paedophile had apparently penned and sent whilst in prison, on their Twitter account.

That letter was deleted and now the Twitter account “Cardinal George Pell Supporters” @PellCardinal has gone to god.

But the sentence below is what grabbed the media’s attention. It was vintage, self-aggrandising Pell, invoking the name of Jesus, hauling the Messiah into Pell’s messianic and squalid orbit.

As usual with Pell, it was all about him:

‘The knowledge that my small suffering can be used for good purposes through being joined to Jesus’ suffering gives me purpose and direction…’

CARDINAL PELL COMPARES HIS SUFFERING WITH JESUS’. REALLY?

Just how can Cardinal George Pell’s “small suffering” be used for “good purposes” is anyone’s guess. And in what way is Pell joined to Jesus’ suffering? Jesus was neither charged nor convicted of paedophilia.

I dare not cast the first stone for obvious reasons, but surely Pell might better compare his suffering with some of the millions of victims of global clergy sex abuse, including his own victims — perhaps even pray for the soul of his victim, who died as a result of a heroin overdose.

Luckily, the Catholic News Agency reproduced the text of the letter in full, so you can read for yourselves Pell’s blatant bitching about Pope Francis whilst extolling the virtues of his bestie and supporter — the dangerous uber-conservative, religious fascist and fellow Cardinal, Gerhard Ludwig Muller.

Melbourne Assessment Prison

1/8/19

Dear Kathy and brothers and sisters in Christ of the Support Cardinal Pell group,

First of all, let me thank you for your prayers and messages of support. These bring immense consolation, humanly and spiritually.

A word of explanation. I have received between 1500-2000 letters and all will be answered. So far, I have only responded to letters from my fellow prisoners (to nearly all of those who wrote) and a few other special cases. Your kindness is not forgotten and will always be fondly remembered.

My faith in Our Lord, like yours, is a source of strength. The knowledge that my small suffering can be used for good purposes through being joined to Jesus’ suffering gives me purpose and direction. Challenges and problems in Church life should be confronted in a similar spirit of faith.

We must always remember that the Church is one, not just in the sense that good families stick together whatever their differences, but because the Church of Christ is based in the Catholic Church, which constitutes the Body of Christ. One ancient saying teaches that there must be unity in essentials (Jesus’ essentials), while there can be diversity in non-essentials. But everywhere and in everything we must have charity.

I agree that we have reason to be disturbed by the Instrumentum Laboris of the Amazonian Synod. This is not the first low-quality document the Synod secretariat has produced. Cardinal G. Muller, formerly of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has written an excellent critique. I am no expert on the region, but I have been to Iquitos in Amazonian Peru, where a Sydney priest, Fr John Anderson runs a parish of exemplary piety, pastoral activity and orthodoxy. As in the Amazon, a lot of water has yet to run before the Synod.

One point is fundamental. The Apostolic Tradition, the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, taken from the New Testament and taught by Popes and Councils by the Magisterium, is the only criterion doctrinally for all teaching on doctrine and practice. Amazon or no Amazon, in every land, the Church cannot allow any confusion, much less any contrary teaching, to damage the Apostolic Tradition.

The Spirit continues to be with the Church. You have every right to make your voices heard, reasonably and in charity. We need not expect the worst.

Yours in the Lord,

Your grateful brother,

+ George Card. Pell

PELL’S PRISON LETTER NOT EXACTLY THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL

Granted, it isn’t exactly Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Instead the letter is a crafty document dripping with the arrogant, sneaky manipulative spin so often deployed by the Catholic Church and George Pell Inc.

It is an ugly characteristic that victims, lawyers, advocates, families, whistleblowers and sections of the media have endured, challenged and been contending with, for decades.

SOME NOTES FROM THIS SIDE OF THE SACRISTY

Time and again, many of us have tried to call out the Church’s fake news, lies, blatant distortions, hype, spin and subtext in relation to the sexual abuse of children and other matters.

The sexual abuse of children and girls/young women by other women and nuns, sometimes acting as pimps for priests and brothers also must be acknowledged and confronted, as must be those women who had/are in relationships with priests and other clergy — and their thousands of children. As must be victims of rape and violence.

Talking truth to this almighty power invariably provokes the wrath of this much corrupted church as well as unleashing a vile slurry of character assassination upon those who dare to call them out and challenge them in public and in the courtroom.

It has been successful in shutting down and thwarting dissent, police enquiries and other investigations, gagging victims with penises and fingers that held/hold the consecrated host and holy wine, that Catholic dogma maintains is not merely symbolic of the body and blood of Christ — but miraculously is the actual body and blood of Jesus, no DNA test required.

The Church also uses other instruments to satiate its naked sado-masochistic appetite, including enforcing upon victims, secret paltry agreements, often signed under great duress and distress. These trifling monies are a small price for the Church to pay to facilitate sexually enslaving and trafficking children. Make no mistake, these children were/are sex slaves and trafficked.

As they grew into adults, we now know that so many of our children, our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, uncles, aunties, nephews and nieces – real human beings – to this day remain otherwise enslaved to the awful industrial strength crimes perpetrated upon them when they were little and, inevitably, these hurts were foisted upon families, friends, so often cruelling personal relationships and intimacy.

Once violated in this brutal way, neither the wounded body nor the soul and psyche seems able to heal completely. It is as if the perpetrator has broken off these bits of us and stolen them forever, so that in some horrible way we are bound to them and they, to us. I have a close friend who has been both raped and shot in separate incidents. That person says they hardly ever think about the time they were shot, but that the rape, despite years of therapy, continues to be relived. It constantly stalks them and haunts, an unwanted visitor, an intruder.

How much of the weekly offerings of the faithful laity, rather than the holdings and investments of the Church, have been squandered in payouts for this recreational sex abuse of children? If the answer is all of it, then it is still not enough. No amount of money will ever be enough to pay for the deaths and devastation caused to victims and families — by the Catholic Church, in particular.

Stay with me as we now as we drill down and crawl through the labyrinthine sewers of intrigue, in-fighting and the spillage that now pollutes the Father Church and its sprawling dominions. All roads lead to Rome and the Vatican. For victims, they merge into the highway of hell.

PELL’S PRISON LETTER A BOMB THROWN UNDER POPE FRANCIS’ CHASSIS

At first glance, the Pell letter appears to be benign, but to anyone who is aware of the seditious politics of Vaticannibalism, it is an highly explosive incendiary device thrown under the chassis of Francis’ Popemobile, designed not only to undermine him but also to further destabilise his authority and administration, fuelling a greater schism between far right conservative clergy and their progressive brethren.

For decades, the sheer firepower, domestic. political and global influence of the Catholic Church has left even the combined might of the likes of America’s National Rifle Association, the tobacco and armaments industries, combined, for dead.

PELL’S SUMMONING OF JESUS IS HIS SCHTICK — BUT SALUTE TO MULLER

Pell’s alignment with Jesus is to be expected, it’s his schtick. But Pell’s salute to Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller, the dangerous notorious religious bigot, extremist, racist, islamophobe, misogynist, climate denier who like Pell also covered up industrial strength child sexual abuse by clergy in his own parish, is also a public smiting of Pope Francis, of his authority and style of inclusive ecclesiastical leadership. It gives the finger to the Pope.

The bromance between Pell and Muller is a long-standing affair. Both cardinals “have it in” for Pope Francis. Both are autocratic “hauteur” princes of the Church, who act like they have the keys to the kingdom, both heavenly and on earth.

It is a well known fact – and certainly to Pell Inc. – that prisoners are not allowed to indulge in social media or to encourage others to post things on their behalf. The ensuing disingenuous furore after Pell’s letter was published resulted in a theatrical scramble by the authorities, Pell Inc., and the launch of a Department of Justice investigation. Good luck with that!

Assertions that Pell’s letter was simply a “pastoral” letter is a load of bollocks. It is a religiopolitical document, designed to contribute to ultimately dethroning Francis — and Pell’s reference to Muller and his manifesto attests to that.

It was certainly no accident that Pell’s letter was published on the Twitter account of his supporters. Indeed he tells them ‘You have every right to make your voices heard’. One doesn’t have to decipher the Da Vinci Code to see his motives. Cursory knowledge of the Medici codex might help.

DID ARCHBISHOP PETER COMENSOLI “SMUGGLE” PELL LETTER FROM PRISON?

Independent Australia has been told by a corrections worker that Pell’s letter was “enabled” by prison staff and that the letter was given to a visitor.

IA has been told that the visitor concerned may have been Archbishop Peter Comensoli, who is known to visit Pell and hear his confession.

The corrections worker said prison staff were unaware the letter was destined for social media distribution.

Further, IA has been told that Pell was advised to give the letter to Archbishop Comensoli, rather than to any member of his legal team, to enable lawyers to attest to having no role in “Pellettergate”.

“Put it this way, Tess, It was decided that it was better to seek forgiveness rather than seek permission,” were words used to me by a prison employee to sum up the deliberate violation of commonly known prison rules.

After all, who cares about a mere letter slipping betwixt the prison bars, when Victoria’s prisons are infamous for the riots, murders and bashings of prisoners, ergo, the execution of gangland supremo of prisoner Carl Williams and the recent stabbing of another gangland supremo, Tony Mokbel.

Pell has outed himself as still a major player in Vatican intrigues and palace coups. He knows more about cover ups than most of his fellow inmates.

CARDINAL MULLER COVERED UP SEX ABUSE ALLEGATIONS IN HIS DIOCESE

It is disturbing, though, that whilst the publishing of the letter has become the main controversy, the contents of the letter have not been properly scrutinised.

To anyone who cares, Pell’s clear contempt for the Instrumentum Laboris of the Sinodo Amazonico that starts in Rome tomorrow (Sunday, 6 October) is a blistering attack on Pope Francis and Catholic progressives concerned about the climate, the Earth itself, the welfare of indigenous Amazonians, the horrifying crimes against the environment, and against those human beings trying to protect their traditional homelands and their wider habitat.

The document also explores other contentious issues, including an increasing role and involvement in the Church for women and married priests. These are all matters that are anathema to the likes of Pell and Muller.

It is curious how few people have dared to write about the implications of Pell’s prison letter. IA has been told one reason is that people are scared of clashing with Pell, let alone Muller, and another reason is that it is feared that any such discussion could lend itself to misinterpretation and criticism of Pell whilst he is seeking leave to appeal to the High Court.

But the syndicated Catholic News Agency’s Ed Condon has picked up on some aspects of this schism in the Catholic Herald, including some of the working paper’s discussion points.

That document, which has been the source of considerable discussion and commentary, included discussion on the subject of ordaining so-called viri probati, or “proven men”, who are married, to answer a shortage of priestly vocations.

The working document, which calls for ‘a Church with an Indigenous face’ , further recommends that the Synod identify:

‘… an official ministry that can be conferred upon women, taking into account the central role they play in the Amazonian church.’

 

 

 

 

 




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