Sydney Archbishop Pell: Benedict didn\'t want to be Pope
Courtesy: The Age
Benedict didn't want to be Pope: Pell
April 29, 2005 - 10:24PM
Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell says Pope Benedict XVI did not
want
the Catholic Church's top job but was elected because he was the most
qualified.
Cardinal Pell welcomed the German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's
appointment as
the new pontiff in his first public appearance, since his return from
Rome,
at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.
Cardinal Pell was a member of the conclave that elected Cardinal
Ratzinger,
78, as its first new pope of the third millennium.
Having chosen to be known as Pope Benedict XVI, the new supreme leader
of
the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics succeeds John Paul II, who died
on
April 2 at the age of 84.
Unveiling portraits of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI by
Australian
artist Charles Billich, Cardinal Pell told the crowd that the new Pope
was a
sincere man and well qualified to lead the Church.
"He knows how to listen, he is prepared to present the Christian
viewpoint
so that it can be discussed and taken up or ignored and rejected by the
people of today," he said.
"He's a rather shy man but he is an exquisitely courteous man and has a
very
pleasant and friendly demeanour and I'm sure that, increasingly, as the
years go ahead he will be ... deeply loved.
"(He was chosen) because very quickly the cardinals believed he was
clearly
the best man for the job.
"He didn't want the job. I'm quite convinced that that was genuine. He
is a
genuine man of the spirit ... he will clearly and consistently call up
Christ, call up the loyalty within the Church and he'll do that in ways
and tones that are new and interesting."
Cardinal Pell also paid tribute to Pope John Paul II in his speech and
described his funeral in Vatican City as remarkable.
He said Pope Benedict XVI made an emotional return to his former
congregation in Germany in the days after his appointment.
"I wasn't there but I believe that it was a deeply moving occasion
because
as a boss and to the people he worked with he was admired and loved and
deeply revered," he said.
Cardinal Pell joked that Pope Benedict followed in the German tradition
of good organisation and that it spoke well for the direction of the
Catholic Church.