AUSTRALIA
The Australian
TESS LIVINGSTONE THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 28, 2014
ANTHONY Fisher was in a Pontifical Council for Life meeting in Rome on Monday when his mobile beeped. “Sydneyensis est sede vacante,” the message said.
He knew it meant his friend and mentor, George Pell, had been promoted to the Vatican and, correctly, he guessed the job. “He’s exactly the right man,” Bishop Fisher said yesterday after returning to Parramatta.
Bishop Fisher, 53, has headed Australia’s fifth-largest diocese for four years. It is also Australia’s most Catholic region, almost one in three belonging to the church.
He is a frontrunner to step up to the role of Archbishop of Sydney, where he grew up and served as an auxiliary bishop. But, within the church, those who know about such matters don’t talk and those who talk don’t know. He’s not talking. But he says those who dedicate their lives to Christ as priests should be prepared to go where the church asks them. He’s keeping a low profile and would not allow a fresh photograph.
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