Reacting to a Greens-initiated investigation by the NSW parliamentary privileges committee into his comments on stem cell cloning, Sydney Cardinal George Pell has described the inquiry as a "clumsy attempt" to curb free speech with a "whiff of stalinism".The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Cardinal Pell made the comments after the announcement on Friday of investigation, instigated by NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon.
"In a free society, anti-Christians like the Green, Lee Rhiannon, have every right to express their views," the Cardinal said."However, there is a whiff of Stalinism or perhaps only of Henry the 8th in her attempt to use this referral as a 'warning' to me."I respect parliamentary procedures and would be privileged to appear before the committee if necessary, to resist this clumsy attempt to curb religious freedom and freedom of speech," Cardinal Pell told the ABC.
"Now the church, in many, or most, cases, doesn't take any official action on this apart from saying that such an activity is wrong."But those consequences follow inevitably in the heart and the soul of the person who takes actions. That's what religion is about."
Cardinal Pell ignited a debate about religious intervention in politics this month when he said Catholic MPs who supported a bill to overturn a ban on therapeutic cloning "must realise that their voting has consequences for their place in the life of the church".
After the bill was passed with the support of several Catholic MPs, including Premier Morris Iemma, Cardinal Pell said politicians who had voted for the bill should examine their conscience before next receiving Holy Communion.
But in an interview on ABC radio's Sunday Profile last night, Cardinal Pell said his comments - widely interpreted as a threat to refuse Communion to those MPs - had been misrepresented."I never outlined that [the refusal of Communion] except as a hypothetical possibility," he said. "I never threatened anybody with a public excommunication and I've stated quite publicly that that's a very blunt instrument and it's hardly ever been used here in Australia."
However, when asked if he would have given Communion to Mr Iemma after the vote, Cardinal Pell was non-committal, saying, "we'd cross that bridge when we come to it".
Earlier the Daily Telegraph had reported that Cardinal Pell could face up to 25 years in prison following an extraordinary move by the NSW Greens to have him investigated for contempt of Parliament.
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