'Hard to imagine a more serious turn of events': Pell conviction
The conviction of Australia’s most senior cleric will swamp all discussion of Catholicism for years to come, a senior academic says.
Concerned Catholics Canberra Goulburn chairman and emeritus professor of political science at the Australian National University, John Warhurst, said the conviction of Cardinal George Pell for child sex offences would "rock everyone involved to their foundations".
"It's hard to imagine a more dramatic and serious turn of events in Australian public life," he said.
Concerned Catholics is a group of several hundred catholics in Canberra and the region who are concerned about governance, cultural and structural issues arising from the royal commission into child sexual abuse.
"I'm interested in the impact that the George Pell verdict might have on the way forward for the Catholic church and society more generally, and I think the immediate impact is that this will swamp everything, to be honest," Professor Warhurst said.
"I think there'll be a period of uproar within the general community, huge discussion of the issues among Catholics, both those who are active and those who have Catholicism in their background of any sort.
"There'll be a variety of opinions about it, ranging from disbelief to ‘I told you so’ sort of thing, and every position in between. I think it's only once the dust has settled, if that's possible, that there'll be considered discussion of broader issues."
Former religion reporter for The Canberra Times Graham Downie said the damage to the church had been done long before this verdict.
"I don't know that the Catholic church could really have much more of a crisis on confidence," he said.
"The worry is who or if they'll replace Pell with someone else as cardinal."
He said Pell had never been a popular figure.
"Long before this happened, he was not universally popular within his church, and particularly among some of his clergy," he said.
"But that wasn't because of anything like this...Pell just didn't evoke sympathy of himself, even when he ran into trouble, because he showed little sympathy for others.
Even when he tried to be kind, he just couldn't sound as though he was, especially to victims of sexual abuse.
"He took such a strong line on church doctrine, he was a conservative Catholic, held the party line from the previous two popes.
"It will rock the church, because I think of all people, Pell was so conservative on sexual things," he said.
Anti-child abuse campaigner Damian De Marco, a victim of child sex abuse himself, said Pell's conviction should show politicians to start taking the problems with the church seriously.
He pointed to the support Pell had from former prime minister Tony Abbott and former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer.
"This is a significant thing for accountability of the church. Politicians still treat this like a joke," Mr De Marco
"What needs to looked at now is the role of the foot soldiers who march around Parliament House and do the church’s bidding."
Mr De Marco said the Australian Catholic Church was "not willing and not capable" of addressing child protection in their institutions, and politicians should now seize the chance to fix the church's stance on reportable conduct.
He said he wanted to see elected officials now putting their constituents ahead of their own private beliefs.
Meanwhile, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the verdict highlighted "the importance of governments continuing to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission, particularly as it relates to the interface with religious organisations".
He said the onus would now be on the Catholic Church to respond appropriately.
"The broader message from the territory government is that it is committed to implementing the recommendations of the royal commission," he said.