Two important figures in the Catholic Church passed away over the summer. Although they’re no longer with us, Pope Benedict and Cardinal George Pell will continue to have a significant influence on the life of the Church.
All of us know what it means to live a segmented life. We each have public and private selves; the face we put on when we deal with people we come into contact with in our public lives, and the inner self that only our family and close acquaintances might get to see.
The two Catholic leaders who passed away this summer both lived in the public spotlight for much of their lives, but they also each lived a private life of which we only ever gained glimpses. While most Catholics have opinions about them, our understanding of them is incomplete, and those of us who didn’t know them tend to fill in the details based on which aspects of their public persona best align with our own attitudes.
In their public life, both Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal George Pell had a significant influence on the Church. There are many who found inspiration in their words. Josef Ratzinger was a renowned theologian even before he was elected Pope, and his encyclicals will be an enduring testament to his elegant and rigorous mind. He was also capable of speaking across ideological lines – his 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate applied the social justice teachings of the Church to a world recovering from financial crisis. It was a prophetic vision for a new economic and social world order that was (and still is) sorely needed, and laid the groundwork for the environmental and social call to action in Laudato Si’.
Both men also championed a Church strongly grounded in doctrine, and opposed any accommodation with the world that might water down cherished beliefs – what Pope Benedict described as the ‘dictatorship of relativism’. As the Church opened up to more considered and synodal approaches under Pope Francis, many tried to use Pope Benedict as a centre for opposition (Pope Benedict, to his credit, was not drawn into the battles). Meanwhile, even in his final days Cardinal Pell continued to warn of the dangers of synodal processes he perceived to be ‘hostile’ to apostolic tradition.
While both men had their followers, others were discouraged by the visions of the Church they put forward. Australians will remember Pope Benedict’s 2007 removal of Bishop Bill Morris in Toowoomba after he raised the possibility of the ordination of women as a response to declining numbers of priests – just a few years before Pope Francis created a commission to explore the possibility of women deacons. Cardinal Pell was quick to defend Church teachings on sexuality, marriage and divorce, resisting any attempts to address issues such as communion for the divorced and remarried, or to engage with the experiences of LGBTIQ+ Catholics.
'While the Church today is different than the one they strove to build, both were influential enough that there are many who will continue to champion their vision for the faith into the future.'
We should also acknowledge that particularly for abuse survivors and their supporters, the Cardinal’s death was another reminder of the suffering they had been through. While the High Court unanimously found him not guilty of the charges brought against him in Victoria, he will still be forever linked in people’s minds to the Catholic Church’s failure to protect the vulnerable and respond adequately to its mistakes.
As the clerical sexual abuse crisis unfolded in Australia and around the world, people looked for leadership and pastoral care from both men. Supporters might point to the response that Cardinal Pell put in place in Melbourne, and the changes that Pope Benedict (as cardinal) instigated to make it easier to investigate and discipline offenders. Many others found their responses wanting, particularly when it came to tackling the causes of the issues. For them, both Pope Benedict and Cardinal Pell were emblematic of a Church more interested in clerical self-preservation than reckoning with the scourge.
The private lives of these two public figures are far less understood. We still know little of the inner life of Josef Ratzinger, and the pressures and difficulties that led to his resignation as Pope. The impression one gets is that he was comfortable as a writer and theological leader, but struggled with pastoral burdens and governance, particularly when it came to organisational reform.
The accounts of those who encountered Pell could almost be describing two different people. The tributes from those who knew him spoke of a warm and genial person, albeit one that could be forthright in his opinions. Others remembered Cardinal Pell from his media interviews and appearances at the Royal Commission, where he seemed at times unmoved by the pain the Church had caused. We don’t know how much the burden of negative public opinion weighed on him. Cardinal Pell’s prison diaries highlight the deep faith that drove him, but not any doubts he might have had to grapple with.
While we’ll never truly know their inner lives, what we can say is that each of these men lived public lives marked by significant transitions. One was a prominent leader in the Church who rose to be Pope, who became the first pope in modern times to retire. The other was the most prominent Catholic figure in Australian society, who became a lightning rod for public anger and pain.
While the Church today is different than the one they strove to build, both were influential enough that there are many who will continue to champion their vision for the faith into the future.
Michael McVeigh is Head of Publishing and Digital Content at Jesuit Communications, publishers of Eureka Street.
Main image: Cardinal George Pell and His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI look on during the Papal Farewell and Volunteer Thank You at The Domain during World Youth Day on July 21, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by World Youth Day via Getty Images)