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Sydney is capital of New South Wales and Australia's most populous city, with about 3.9 million residents. Pell is currently Archbishop of Melbourne, capital of the state of Victoria, with a strong Catholic community making it the country's biggest Catholic archdiocese. The appointment by the Vatican, which will take effect in about two months, is, however, considered both a promotion and a clear indication of the direction in which Pope John Paul II would like the Australian church to move. Archbishop Pell will succeed Cardinal Archbishop Edward Clancy, who is soon to retire.

Archbishop Pell's appointment last week came as a surprise both to him—he told the media that the Pope had informed him only 10 days before—and to most Australian Catholics. There is now strong speculation that Archbishop Pell will be the nation's next cardinal as, traditionally, the archbishop of Sydney is given that rank.

An apparent factor in Archbishop Pell's appointment was the historic Oceania synod, involving all of Australia's Catholic bishops and called by Pope John Paul II two years ago. The result was a scathing Vatican document on the state of the church in Australia, in which the Pope blamed Australia's sense of egalitarianism for contributing to the decline of the authority of the parish priest.

The bishops were told by Rome that Australia was undergoing a "crisis of faith," that they should crack down on errors "in matters of doctrine and morals" and guard against innovations in worship.

Chris McGillion, religious reporter for Sydney's most respected daily newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald, commented this week: "Virtually all the candidates who had been rumoured to be strong contenders to replace [Cardinal] Clancy … had the right hard-line credentials on at least some of the key points made in the [Oceania] statement. Archbishop Pell had them across the board."

Pell, 59, has won wide and sometimes critical media coverage both for his doctrinal conservatism, and for his willingness to engage in secular politics. In the middle of the last federal election campaign, he issued a press statement refuting claims that Catholics opposed the controversial Goods and Services Tax, the central plank in the conservative coalition government's re-election platform. At a time when many other churchmen were opposing the initiative, Pell said there was no one Catholic position on it.

This week the prime minister, John Howard, whose taxation reforms are now in place, congratulated Archbishop Pell on his appointment to "the most senior position in the Catholic Church" in Australia, describing him as a "man of great intellect and sincerity."

However, Pell has not been an unqualified supporter of the Howard government. He has said that the prime minister should apologize on behalf of the Australian people to the so-called "Stolen Generations" of Aboriginal children who were taken from their parents by welfare authorities. Prime Minister Howard has repeatedly refused to apologize.

Archbishop Pell has also advocated a more compassionate approach to refugees arriving in Australia, who are detained in remote prison-like centers.

He was also a strong supporter of the Vatican's move in 1999 to prevent nuns—the Sisters of Charity—from opening a heroin injection room in Sydney where addicts could inject drugs under medical supervision.

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April (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45