Pope does the right thing and pisses off Pell

You know what I think some people might have missed the reasons why the pope announced the appoligy today at the mass inside St Mary's Cathedral. I'm not catholic but I understand the significance of todays ceremony, the pope chose this place because it was the biggest congregation of nuns, cardinals and bishops and other catholic clergy from around the nation. He basically from his statement put George Pell on notice that he was distressed by the hurt the church had caused to these people and that they need to work harder to heal these people's wounds.

The people themselves effected want a personal meeting with the pope and they don't feel that todays apology had much meaning to them. Thats fair enough, these people have been through horrific treatment by the hands of people who were people in positions of power and trust. They have a right to be angry, a right to not trust the church and above all a right to be treated with respect and dignity.

So this apology is like the apology to stolen generation it was made in the highest church in Australia witnessed by the officers of the church and reported to the rest of country via the country's media, just like the apology to the stolen generation was made in parliament and witnessed by the elected representatives of the country and reported to the nation by its media.

Pope Benedict 6th broke away from the official speech to give this statement, it did appear that the Cardinal may not have been aware this was going to happen and especially at an event of such significance to the church.