Off To Rome

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
4 Apr 2004

Every five years Catholic bishops travel to Rome to give an account of their stewardship.  In March it was the turn of the Australian bishops.

While there is an important element of business and accountability, it was also a pilgrimage, a time for prayer and reflection.

We began with a concelebrated Mass around the tomb of St. Peter, who was appointed and renamed by Jesus as “the man of rock”, on whom the Church would be built.  More concelebrations followed at the three other great basilicas, founded in the fourth century.

They are full of history.  Michelangelo designed the dome of the “new” St. Peters, built in the 16th century.  The doors at St. John Lateran came from the Senate House of the Roman Empire and the ceiling at St. Mary Major was plated by the first gold from the “new world” of South America.

We went on pilgrimage to Assisi, birthplace of St. Francis of Assisi late in the 12th century, a remarkable saint who helped revitalise the Church, became an apostle on peace when Italy was wracked by constant warfare, and built the first Christmas crib.

On Sunday we had a day of prayer and quiet at Pallazolo in the Alban Hills, once the home of the Scipios, whose members defeated and then completely destroyed Carthage - Rome’s North African rival for domination - in 146 B.C.

To those many Australians who love history, perhaps because our European story here is so brief, Rome is like a supermarket, with easy access to more than 2,500 years of secular and religious buildings, ruins and monuments.

However it was not all prayer, sight-seeing and community celebrations, although the time away together for the bishops was very pleasant.

We hear a great deal today about accountability, both within the Church and to the wider society.  Bishops and priests have to explain to their people what they are about and the wider community is interested in both Catholic teaching and practice, perhaps especially whether we practise what we preach.  Each bishop also answers to the Pope.

Every diocese has to prepare a report on Church life during the previous five years.  Sydney’s had 140 pages.  It takes time but is a useful exercise.  I was heartened by the increase in seminarians preparing for the priesthood, but disconcerted by the fall in the number of Catholic marriages.

Such reports are discussed on group visits to the 20 Vatican departments and 3 courts.  These visits are usually fruitful, although sometimes there are competing perspectives.

Each bishop is also received by Pope John Paul II, and at the end when the Pope gives his final message to the group.  He was in fine humour, acknowledging both our progress and the pressures on us.

All in all it was not a Roman holiday, but a useful exchange, which reminded us of our duties and responsibilities as bishops. It was also much quieter than the 1998 visit.