Nowadays episcopal appointments result from a closed, opaque process in which all power is held by the Vatican and hardly any by the local church. The result: some very poor appointments.

The Code of Canon Law outlines the general process: "At least every three years the bishops of an ecclesiastical province…are to compose in common counsel and in secret a list of priests …who are suitable for the episcopacy and to send it to the Apostolic See" (Canon 377, 2).

In Australia the process works like this: the papal nuncio, currently Filipino Archbishop Adolfo Yllana, canvasses the names of priests for possible appointment and seeks the views of the bishops of the region, including the bishop of the diocese to which the priest is to be appointed.

Selected senior clergy and a few carefully chosen laypeople are consulted, usually through a secret questionnaire. It asks about the candidate's personal qualities, orthodoxy, loyalty to the pope, commitment to celibacy, opposition to women priests, public image, any predisposition to hereditary illness and his family's "condition".

It also asks about the candidate's adherence to the infamous 1998 "Statement of Conclusions" imposed by the Vatican on the Australian bishops in which Australian Catholics were described as too "egalitarian".

On the basis of these consultations a terna, a list of three names, is compiled by the nuncio and forwarded to the Vatican Congregation for Bishops.

Here another investigation is made where they check whether any of the priests on the terna have been reported to the Vatican for issues like "unorthodoxy" (i.e. heresy), or disagreement with the prevailing Roman line on anything, or any critical comments about the pope or Vatican. Here it helps a lot if you have powerful patrons or good connections in Rome.

At the end of the process the list is sent to the pope for decision. He normally chooses the priest at the top of the list. Continue reading

• Paul Collins is an Australian historian, broadcaster and writer currently based in Canberra.

But the company denied it had changed its position on the issue, after pressure had come from the Catholic Church.

Telstra was one of several major Australian corporations to sign an Australian marriage equality petition last year.

In May, Sydney archdiocese business manager Michael Digges wrote to the corporations expressing the archdiocese's "grave concern".

Mr Digges told the corporations they had "overstepped their purpose".

In the letter, Mr Digges wrote that the Church is a "significant user of goods and services from many corporations, both local and international".

He reminded the firms that many of its "employees, customers, partners, suppliers" would belong to the Catholic faith.

The Australian reported that Telstra had dropped out of the same-sex marriage debate after pressure from the Church.

The company was reportedly concerned it would risk its commercial relationship and contracts with Catholic schools.

A Telstra spokesman told Guardian Australia: "The [Australian] government has committed to putting same-sex marriage before the Australian people in a plebiscite and, ultimately, it will be parliament who determines any changes to the institution of marriage."

"In view of this, Telstra has no further plans to figure prominently in the wider public debate."

But Telstra stated on Twitter: "Our position on marriage equality hasn't changed."

"We place great importance on diversity and stand against discrimination in all forms."

This drew protest from marriage equality supporters on Twitter, who questioned how Telstra could help achieve change without driving public debate.

Telstra's logo is still featured on a marriage equality campaign website and it has reportedly not asked for this to be removed.

Sources

• Guardian Australia
• Image: Inside Retail

Known as a workaholic, a moderating force and a conservative, without being reactionary, that didn't stop Cardinal Clancy having his share of disagreements with Rome.

In fact, he once told a young priest heading for Rome to study to "trust nobody".

This didn't stop that young priest being an Australian archbishop today.

An obituary article written by a former editor of Sydney's Catholic Weekly, Kerry Myers, described some of Clancy's battles with Rome.

The Vatican once intervened in a project Clancy had authorised - the setting up of a heroin injecting room run by the Sisters of Charity from a Catholic hospital.

Then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger ordered the sisters to drop the scheme after strident protests from a number of conservative Catholics.

While the cardinal took Rome's decision "on the chin", one priest close to him said he took the rebuke personally, but that did not stop him publicly siding with Rome.

But after a 1999 bishops' Oceania Synod in Rome, a Statement of Conclusions reprimanded Australia's bishops over a perceived crisis of faith and religious practice in their nation.

Speaking to ABC radio on his retirement in 2001, Clancy expressed frustration at the reception the bishops got from Rome.

"I came away feeling that our brethren in Rome didn't fully understand the situation in real life as we have it here," he said.

" . . . there's a certain Australian egalitarianism that other people often misread and misunderstand, and also an openness."

During his tenure, Cardinal Clancy also decided to divide Sydney archdiocese into three dioceses for pastoral reasons.

And it was his support, especially in Rome, that resulted in the eventual canonisation of Australia's first saint, Mary MacKillop.

He was Archbishop of Sydney from 1983 to 2001, when he retired.

Previously he had been Archbishop of Canberra Goulburn and was also an auxiliary bishop in Sydney.

President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference from 1986 to 2000, he received the cardinal's red hat in 1988.

In 1992 he was made a Companion in the Order of Australia for service to religion, learning and the disadvantaged in the community.

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• Australian Associated Press
• Image: Sydney Morning Herald

Pell's latest promotion, to head an important new office in Rome with authority over all financial matters within the Vatican, is proof of the powerful friends he has made. Pell's appointment as Cardinal Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy was approved by Pope Francis — the third pontiff to have demonstrated extraordinary confidence in Pell's abilities since he was made Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne at the comparatively young age of 46 years in 1987.

As for enemies, it is not hard to compile a list of those who will be glad to see Pell go.

It would include most liberal Catholics, many priests who have served under him (one of whom once described him as 'a memory of all those silly stereotypes of authority that used to haunt us as children'), and many of his fellow bishops, who saw him as too eager to please Rome and too prone to do his own thing without acting in concert with them. Continue reading.

Chris McGillion is a former religious affairs editor for the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a senior lecturer in journalism at Charles Sturt University and co-author of the forthcoming book Reckoning: The Catholic Church and Child Sexual Abuse.

Source: Eureka Street

Image: The Australian

The archdiocese said the report by Fairfax media misrepresented the outcome of a 2002 inquiry into an allegation against the cardinal and was a "smear of the most vindictive kind".

The report suggested that the 2002 investigation into sex-abuse charges, conducted by a retired Victorian Supreme Court judge, had cast suspicions on the cardinal's role.

In fact, the inquiry report from Judge A. J. Southwell had "completely exonerated Cardinal Pell of allegations made against him", the archdiocese said.

Judge Southwell wrote: "I find I am not satisfied that the complaint has been established."

The article, by Melbourne journalist Barney Zwartz, has now been removed from Fairfax websites. It appeared while Cardinal Pell was in Rome to take part in the conclave that elected Pope Francis.

It quoted commentator Paul Collins, a former priest, as saying Cardinal Pell had "no chance" of being elected pope after progressive Catholics lobbied overseas journalists and voting cardinals to make sure they were aware of the 2002 inquiry into allegations against the Sydney archbishop.

The statement by the archdiocese pointed out that a previous article by Mr Zwartz about Cardinal Pell said "an independent investigation by a retired non-Catholic judge cleared him" of the allegations against him.

"Inexplicably, this has been omitted from Mr Zwartz's latest article," the statement said.

The archdiocese also said that Cardinal Pell "has worked hard to eradicate the evil of sexual abuse from the Church and to show his deep compassion for victims and survivors of sexual abuse not just by words but also by actions".

Sources:

SBS

The Australian

Image: Sydney Morning Herald