George Pell Prison Life
Title: Cardinal talks of ordeal to students
Author: Staff Writers
Publisher: The Catholic Weekly
Date: 15JUN2020
Christianity “helped me to survive” says Cardinal Pell
Cardinal George Pell has urged university students from across Australia to reflect on the Christian teaching on suffering, offering advice for those experiencing what he called “moments of extremity”.
Patron of the Australian Catholic Students’ Association for close to 20 years, the Cardinal addressed the students at an online retreat held over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
Referring to his own 13 months imprisonment, he said there is a lot of goodness in prisons and many others go through much greater suffering than what he experienced.
“MY ORDEAL WAS DIFFICULT AND UNPLEASANT BUT IT WAS FAR FROM THE WORST”
“My ordeal was difficult and unpleasant,” the Cardinal said, “but it was far from the worst… My suffering was not like that, for example, of parents who have lost children.”
However, prison had confirmed for him the importance of the importance of the Christian understanding on suffering.
“I’m still teaching the same Christian message,” he said, “and I’m here simply to say to you that it works. Not in the sense that I was acquitted, but that this Christian teaching helped me survive.”
For more information visit:
https://www.catholicweekly.com.au/cardinal-talks-of-ordeal-to-students/