AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE McCARTHY March 21, 2014

WHENEVER I think about Cardinal George Pell – and I try not to, really, because life is too short – I think about Jesus.

Before concerned friends leap to the phone to check if I’ve succumbed to the demands of the past few years, can I just say I link Pell and Christ because the best way to consider the cardinal is by applying the ‘‘What would Jesus do?’’ test.

He’s the most prominent Catholic in Australia so we should be lining up his words and actions against the teachings of the first Christian. Only then can we answer the question, does Pell practise what the church preaches?

(A pause here to note I can’t lay claim to the ‘‘What would Jesus do?’’ test because it was Peter Gogarty – outspoken victim of child sex offender priest Jim Fletcher –…