Cardinal George Pell’s failed coup to destroy Pope Francis

The late Cardinal George Pell, once convicted pedophile and renowned thug, for years plotted to destroy Pope Francis hoping to seize the papal throne for himself.

The ruthlessly ambitious Big George had big plans. He wore his bloated ego and arrogance like vestments around his hulking and intimidating frame.

When the regressive arch conservative Pope Benedict XV1 aka Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger resigned in 2013 ostensibly because of lack of strength of mind and body, but arguably more through managerial ineptitude, intransigent autocracy and sex abuse cover up, Pell thought then he was in with a chance.

He was furious when Francis was elected instead, more so when the new Pope became Time’s 2013 Person of the Year. Nancy Gibbs was the first female Managing Editor, at the time and wrote a brilliant essay on why Francis was chosen after a mere nine months upon the Throne of Rome.

“… he has placed himself at the very center of the central conversations of our time: about wealth and poverty, fairness and justice, transparency, modernity, globalization, the role of women, the nature of marriage, the temptations of power…

At a time when the limits of leadership are being tested in so many places, along comes a man with no army or weapons, no kingdom beyond a tight fist of land in the middle of Rome but with the immense wealth and weight of history behind him, to throw down a challenge. The world is getting smaller; individual voices are getting louder; technology is turning virtue viral, so his pulpit is visible to the ends of the earth. When he kisses the face of a disfigured man or washes the feet of a Muslim woman, the image resonates far beyond the boundaries of the Catholic Church…”

There were other ‘firsts’ for Francis; the first Argentinian Pope, the first Jesuit Pope.

Such accolades and more incensed Pell, merely inflaming his wrath. His jealousy of Francis was well known and he set about trying even harder to undermine Francis and diminish his reputation, acquiring a following of hard core zealots who shared Pell’s belief that Francis had to go. More of them later.

Francis had a core belief in Laity owning the real Church and not the Roman Curia. Pell and his mates, believed in the opposite and thought Francis was squandering the Vatican’s centuries of accumulated power and authority, rather than sharing it.

Pell flaunted his sense of privilege as a Prince of the Church. Indeed, he was so used to political and other supplicants and sycophancy, the social currency and power he was accorded that he lost his cool when it was challenged in any way.

For those who knew he was a bully and hypocrite, it was a blessed relief when his true colours and horrible nature were at last laid bare to the world, especially during his public appearances before the likes of inquiries, a Royal Commission and court cases and let us not forget Pell’s embarrassing and cringe-worthy exposure as an intellectual imposter when he appeared on ABC televisions Q&A in theological combat with Richard Dawkins. In this forum, Pell did not serve the Catholic Church or its followers, well.

In textbook Machiavellian technique, the Australian aided, abetted and schemed with his cronies against Francis. He aligned himself with like-thinking fascist far right bigots, aiming to fulfil his self prophesying wet dream of becoming the first Australian Pope.

This scenario is not drawn from either the blockbuster novel, The Da Vinci Code or the block bluster movie Conclave. This scenario is not fiction, as you will read and see and although many aspects from both feature in this real life drama.

it is a saga that exposes the raw, carnality and lust for power of an axis of evil within the fundamentalist hierarchy of a Catholic Church diseased with child sex abuse and corruption on an industrial global scale.

Pell remained delusional almost to the end, buoyed by his conviction being overturned by the High Court. Pell may have been deemed guiltless by the higher court, but the lower court and arguably, the people, found Pell guilty as sin.

He once truly believed he was in the Papal ring with a chance; that he would redeem and rehabilitate his reputation after the ‘not guilty’ verdict and return to Rome, victorious and vindicated, like Caesar, once more a candidate for the papacy, as soon as he and his coven could rid themselves of his nemesis, the turbulent, unorthodox, new-age priest, Francis.

Despite knowing that Francis recoiled in horror at anyone kissing his papal ring, upon his return to Rome, Pell tried to manipulate the greeting for the cameras and bent really low, trying to hijack a media moment. But Francis wasn’t having any of it and abruptly pulled his ring hand away whilst still shaking Pell’s hand. Nicely done, Frankie. Note how Pell looks at the cameras, knowing the moment of ignominy was captured.

Pell Outmanoeuvred by Francis and Betrayed by Cardinal Muller

Pell was ultimately outmanoeuvred by two men. The first was Francis himself, who had rebuilt and stacked the College of Cardinals with loyal newbies, widening its traditional gene and racial pool with his captain’s picks.

The second man was/is German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller, Pell’s one time staunch ally, who later turned traitor to Pell even whilst he was alive and who has since embarked on an ungainly scramble to become Pope himself next month. Heaven help the world, let alone Catholicism.

Francis was to keep his frenemies close. It’s why he made Pell his neighbour in Rome, appointing him the inaugural Prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy in 2014 and bestowed him other influential roles.

“Pope Francis appoints brilliant Cardinal Pell from Sydney to be no.3 power in Vatican. Australia will miss him but world will benefit.” (Rupert Murdoch, Twitter, 25/02/2014).

But What Was the Coup Against Pope Frances About

Pope Francis was too much like the Jesus of the Scriptures, of the Gospels. Too much like Francis of Assisi, patron saint of the poor and all creatures great and small, whose name Jorge Mario Bergoglio adopted when the Conclave elected him Pope.

Francis had little time for the overt insider gloating at the wealth, opulence and trappings of papal office and Planet God, the Vatican state.

If the Devil wears Prada, then in the Vatican, God wears Michelangelo and breathtaking treasures, plundered and otherwise, of gold and jewels, art, manuscripts and suchlike that is literally priceless and surely unmatched on earth.

There is an inherent and inherited indecent gluttony of wealth that reflects a guilt-free moral poverty that is akin to the likes of buying your way into Heaven by paying money to the Church, called Plenary Indulgences, no matter what spin the Vatican puts on it.

This Jubilee Year (every 25 years) is The Year of Hope. Francis was building on that theme. This shepherd’s flock was anyone and everyone. That about sums it up plain and simple.

He could have and should have done better in relation to the ongoing proliferation of clergy sex abuse and victims and survivors. Yes, he should have and could have given an audience to a group of about 15 Australians who went to Rome in March, 2016 to watch Cardinal George Pell give evidence via video link to a government inquiry.

It wasn’t good enough that the Vatican used the excuse that the group failed to go through the proper channels when requesting a meeting with Pope Francis, After all, this is the same Pope that habitually popped up hither and thither without prior notice, permission or pomp to visit the poor and marginalised.

Besides, the group claimed they got the Pope’s contact details from Pell’s Office in Rome and sent him a fax. Ahem.

It’s true that the Pope’s diocese was the world and not just the world of The Vatican state. It was the word of the poor, the marginalised, the disenfranchised, the homeless, victims of violence, climate change, war, the starving, the ebb and flow of refugees on the tides of inhumanity. The voiceless, the disabled, the stateless; all and any of humanity who wished to be included, including those of all faiths and none, all creatures, the earth and universe.

In 2015, Pope Francis issued an extraordinary and unexpected encyclical letter on climate change that outraged Pell and fellow ultraconservative clergy, non believers without and within the Church, including Australia.

The Encyclical Letter opened with a quote deferring to that other environmentalist and patron saint, Francis of Assisi and words from “The Canticle of Creatures,” entitled LAUDATO SI (Praise be to you, My Lord), the encyclical was a defiant repudiation of climate deniers and a plea to the world ‘ on care for our common home.’

Francis refers to ‘Mother Earth’ and ‘Sister’ in his open letter to the world:

2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.

The year before, Francis had written to then Prime Minister Tony Abbott as host of the G20 Summit in Brisbane. A formidable intellect as well as a news junkie Francis pleaded with G20 leaders to:

“… ask the G20 Heads of State and Government not to forget that many lives are at stake behind these political and technical discussions, and it would indeed be regrettable if such discussions were to remain purely on the level of declarations of principle. Throughout the world, the G20 countries included, there are far too many women and men suffering from severe malnutrition, a rise in the number of the unemployed, an extremely high percentage of young people without work and an increase in social exclusion which can lead to criminal activity and even the recruitment of terrorists. In addition, there are constant assaults on the natural environment, the result of unbridled consumerism, and this will have serious consequences for the world economy…”

Abbott of course, is a famous acolyte of the late Cardinal Pell, to the extent that upon his death, he alarmingly described him as “a saint for our times” and the greatest man he’d ever known.

Note that Abbott has said nothing of consequence of the death of Francis. Say no more.

Basically, Pell, Muller and the other cultish conspirators of the ‘ get Francis ‘ hit squad of conservatives who plotted to unseat the incumbent because of his progressiveness and his permissive embrace of humanity and love for people , the least amongst us, and distaste for the pomposity and posturings of elite clergy and the trappings of wealth and even more – power. Francis worked to dilute the power of the Catholic Church, and to place more power vested in the people. This was anathema to Pell, Muller and the devious plotters. Heresy writ large.

As you will read and see for yourselves, the sheer hatred for Francis was/is palpable.

The final bodily resting place that Pope Francis has picked for himself is at the glorious baroque Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, a meaningful selection, because it was his fave church and where he went before and after every apostolic journey and hospital visit, to lay an offering of flowers to the Virgin. It is also believed to be the oldest Church dedicated to Mater Dei.

And of course, to the cheery hymns of supermarket cash registers, we are reminded that in religious harmony of the celebrations of life and funerary rituals, May is the month traditionally dedicated to Mothers and Carers.

The Basilica is breathtakingly beautiful inside and out,and features a number of artisan contributions made and donated by the poor, a continuing global sacrifice and not only in the Catholic Church.

In his Rome Report, the popular Sean Patrick Lovett is enlightened about the beauty, history and construction of the Basilica by the historian adventurer, Jill Alexie:

• For those interested in following the order of service, here’s a 45 page document published on the Vatican’s website. The document is also available in several languages, as are the various services and masses as well.

We know that Pope Francis was a workaholic and almost died with his orthopedic boots on. Few knew that at times he was in near daily contact with what is left of a tiny Catholic church and parish in Gaza. Francis was an extraordinary shepherd to this small and beleaguered flock, bringing momentary happiness and even giggles amidst the cataclysmic backdrop of concrete rubble and blood.

This moving video highlights and interview highlights the extraordinary devotion of
Francis the priest, to some of the least amongst us.

Next we republish in full an article first published on Independent Australia and elsewhere around October 5, 2019. The article fleshes out the cowardice of Pell and capturea evidence of the depths that Pell, Muller and others went to, in their unsuccessful bid to bring down Pope Francis.

It seems unbelievable. But It ain’t, and you better believe it because these dudes are still lurking in the corridors of power and the sewers of cover up and corruption that run like labyrinths through and beyond the Vatican State.

It’s feasible that one of them could be elected the next Pope. God help us. The day will come when there is another female Pope, in the meantime, of all in the College of Cardinals who could be a decent human being to lead this most influential Church that could have such an impact on world Peace, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi has already shown he is a courageous maverick who was/is an intellectual brother to Franciscus the Brave.

May he rest in Peace. Meanwhile, may the rest of us live in Peace. Amen.

 

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