VII Edition - The Church Up Close - September 23 - Interview with George Cardinal Pell 23 September, 15:00-16:30 (GMT + 1): Interview with George Cardinal Pell, Former Prefect of the Vatican Secretariat …More
VII Edition - The Church Up Close - September 23 - Interview with George Cardinal Pell
23 September, 15:00-16:30 (GMT + 1): Interview with George Cardinal Pell, Former Prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy. Conducted by Rev. Prof. John Wauck of the Pontifical University of Santa Croce and Ashely Noronha of Relevant Radio.
ROME (CNS) — Honest and open debate about different points of view in the Catholic Church are fundamental, but Catholics should not be demonizing the individuals with those views, Cardinal George Pell said.
Asked about the different polarized positions among Catholics that can be found online, he said that many of the issues being discussed are “very important, and I don’t think there can be any compromise on the fundamental issues of what is the apostolic tradition.”
The church’s stance on issues should be clearly explained, but there is “a hierarchy of truths, not everything is equally important,” which means Catholics “should not be disagreeing violently over too much at all but certainly not over matters which are of less importance,” he said in an interview in Rome streamed live Sept. 23 and uploaded the next day by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
As Catholics try to choose among many sources and offerings online, what they should be looking for and contributing to “is regular courtesy, a regular commitment to the truth, to dialogue, debating, arguing about the issues” themselves and not attacking the people who hold a different point of view, said the cardinal, who is the former prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy and retired archbishop of Sydney.
The interview was part of the university’s biennial “The Church Up Close” seminar offered to journalists who report on the Catholic Church. This year’s seminar was held online and focused on “Covering Catholicism in the Age of Francis.”
The interview with Cardinal Pell covered a wide variety of topics, including Cardinal Pell’s experience in an Australian prison for 13 months on child sex abuse charges until he was cleared by a unanimous decision of the High Court in 2020 and the vital importance of due process for both victims and the accused.
23 September, 15:00-16:30 (GMT + 1): Interview with George Cardinal Pell, Former Prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy. Conducted by Rev. Prof. John Wauck of the Pontifical University of Santa Croce and Ashely Noronha of Relevant Radio.
ROME (CNS) — Honest and open debate about different points of view in the Catholic Church are fundamental, but Catholics should not be demonizing the individuals with those views, Cardinal George Pell said.
Asked about the different polarized positions among Catholics that can be found online, he said that many of the issues being discussed are “very important, and I don’t think there can be any compromise on the fundamental issues of what is the apostolic tradition.”
The church’s stance on issues should be clearly explained, but there is “a hierarchy of truths, not everything is equally important,” which means Catholics “should not be disagreeing violently over too much at all but certainly not over matters which are of less importance,” he said in an interview in Rome streamed live Sept. 23 and uploaded the next day by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
As Catholics try to choose among many sources and offerings online, what they should be looking for and contributing to “is regular courtesy, a regular commitment to the truth, to dialogue, debating, arguing about the issues” themselves and not attacking the people who hold a different point of view, said the cardinal, who is the former prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy and retired archbishop of Sydney.
The interview was part of the university’s biennial “The Church Up Close” seminar offered to journalists who report on the Catholic Church. This year’s seminar was held online and focused on “Covering Catholicism in the Age of Francis.”
The interview with Cardinal Pell covered a wide variety of topics, including Cardinal Pell’s experience in an Australian prison for 13 months on child sex abuse charges until he was cleared by a unanimous decision of the High Court in 2020 and the vital importance of due process for both victims and the accused.