Cardinal Pell’s righteous fury at the Vatican’s theological direction

Cardinal Pell, a former head of Vatican finances, does not criticise Pope Francis directly in the piece he’s written for The Spectator. But it was the latter who instituted this ‘synodal way’ which, according to Pell, ‘has neglected, indeed downgraded the Transcendent, covered up the centrality of Christ with appeals to the Holy Spirit and encouraged resentment, especially among participants’. Pell states quite plainly that the whole process – which began with a ‘consultation’ of the laity in which only a minuscule proportion of the world’s Catholics took part – is in the process of being rigged. The synod’s participants will not be allowed to vote and the organising committee’s views will be passed on to Pope Francis ‘for him to do as he decides’.  
    
That phrase goes to the heart of the matter. Pell describes this arrangement as ‘an abuse of synodality, a sidelining of the bishops, which is unjustified by scripture or tradition’ and ‘liable to manipulation’. But abuse and manipulation by whom? The Synod on Synodality is Francis’s pet project. Its undemocratic proceedings reflect his own desire to ‘do as he decides’, as Pell puts it, pointing out that there is not much enthusiasm at ‘senior Church levels’ for the exercise. Given that he was once a member of Francis’s ‘cabinet’ of cardinal advisers, we can assume that Pell had indeed been talking to very senior figures – not necessarily all of them as trenchantly conservative as him.
    
This is the last public statement by a hugely influential cardinal who was once part of the Pope’s inner circle. Put simply, it expresses righteous fury at the theological direction of this pontificate, hinting that it is betraying Christ himself. And, by a sad coincidence, it appears in the same week as Archbishop Gänswein’s revelations that Benedict XVI in retirement was horrified by his successor’s suppression of the Latin Mass and also suspected that it was based on a bogus consultation. Given these developments, one wonders for how much longer the wider Church will be prepared to allow an embattled Francis to ‘do as he decides’.