AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

September 21, 2013

David Marr

George Pell ruled the Catholic church with an iron will and, even as victims of sex abuse came forward, steadfastly tried to protect it.

The lumbering figure walking the length of Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building to the sound of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus on the night of August 16, 1996, was in better health than he had been for years. He had shed weight. A little grey was showing under the mitre but, all things being equal, George Pell had 20 years ahead of him to fulfil Rome’s mandate. He had been a contentious figure inside the church for years but his appointment to Melbourne exposed him to wider scrutiny.
Australia was beginning to pay attention. That he broke the mould made him interesting. Catholic archbishops hadn’t sounded like him for 40 years. He was deliberate rather than graceful. He…