British Prime Minister David Cameron has adopted a “poisonous form of radical moral liberalism” in deciding to introduce gay marriage in 2014, a senior cardinal has said.
Cardinal George Pell, who run the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, criticised Mr Cameron’s “confusion” and said his decision was “at odds with the core beliefs of all mainstream Christian churches, including his own.”
Writing in a foreword to The Nation that God Forgot, a collection of essays edited by Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh, Cardinal Pell says: “Cameron has been formed by, or at least adopted, that poisonous form of radical moral liberalism which has sapped the religious vitality of many Christian communities as it endorsed the weaknesses and mistakes damaging, and even destroying, the family.”
“His confusion is typical of many Christians,” he adds. “It does not speak well of those Christian leaders who never lifted a finger to resist these siren voices.”
According to the Catholic Herald, the cardinal also refers to allegations the Prime Minister had said privately that “‘the Lord Jesus’ would favour the gay rights agenda”.
He responds: “I can only say that this cannot be called ‘evidence-based policy-making’! Such a legal change is at odds with the core beliefs of all mainstream Christian churches, including his own.”
He said that he has decided to speak out as “the victories and defeats in the ‘conflict of the soul’ of British society still have important consequences everywhere in the English-speaking world”.
“Losses in Britain make it harder in Australia and even in the United States, not to mention the many other Anglophone countries.”
Cardinal Pell is known for his conservative views and is the subject of ongoing vicious media attacks in his native Australia over allegations he covered up child abuse.
He has been summoned to attend a royal commission looking into the allegations, but is currently too ill to leave Rome.
Describing the “witch hunt” against him in the Australian media, columnist Andrew Bolt writes in the Herald Sun: “Neither of the two inquiries so far has yet found proof that he’s lying. Even Gerald Ridsdale, the worst of the paedophile priests, failed to incriminate Pell in the royal commission last year.”
He says the media campaign, which included comedian Tim Minchin singing a “hymn of hatred” on a talk show on Tuesday, is “one of the most vicious witch hunts to disgrace this country. It is shameful. Disgusting. Frightening.”
“Shame on every coward who joins this vicious mob. You claim you stand for good, yet you show such gloating evil,” he concludes.
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