CARDINAL George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, has in a recent interview with the Herald Sun lambasted MPs who ‘fly under the Christian flag’ but blithely disregard Christian perspectives when facing a vote on moral issues.
He disagreed with the notion that politicians support views based on primacy of conscience.
“You know if somebody said apartheid was all right, nobody would say ‘Yes, you can say that because of the primacy of conscience’.”
The Cardinal said he understood that a non-Christian or even a nominal Christian’s views on moral issues may differ from the church’s teaching.
“If a person says, ‘Look, I’m not a Christian, I’ve a different set of perspectives’, I disagree but I understand. If a person says to me, ‘Look, I’m nominally a Christian but it sits lightly with me’, I understand that. But it’s incongruous for somebody to be a Captain Catholic one minute, saying they’re as good a Catholic as the Pope, then regularly voting against the established Christian traditions,” he said.
Referring to the move by Greens Party leader Bob Brown to have a pro-euthansia Bill passed by the Australian parliament, he said the measure would fail.
“I’m not telling people how to vote. I’m telling people how I think they should vote. I’m an Australian citizen and I have as much right to do that as any other citizen,” he said.
