When none is above the law: the unexpected lesson of Cardinal George Pell

“The peace that the supremacy of 

law brings….”

Cardinal George Pell was once Australia’s Catholic Archbishop, the Prince of the Australian Church if you like. He was promoted as Cardinal and called to the Vatican. He served as the number three in the Vatican administration and was in charge of finances; the Prince of the Vatican if you like. The news about him from here in Australia has sent shockwaves through the Vatican in Rome. By deflection, it sends a shiver down the spines of us Sri Lankans.

Australian (Victorian) Police investigations conducted over two years have forced the Cardinal to face legal action in Melbourne at the end of July over allegations of multiple child sexual attacks while he had been serving in the diocese in Ballarat.

Of course, being charged does not mean anyone is guilty. The purpose of court proceedings is to professionally examine the charges on the basis of due process. I hope the Cardinal will get every chance to prove his innocence. I am sorry for the personal plight of this venerable-looking aged man. On the other hand, this isn’t the issue I raise here.

What the ‘Supremacy of Law’ means

On the contrary, I relate this story to illustrate in concrete terms what it means to have nobody above the law. Here it is a most eminently regarded man at the top of the Australian and Vatican elite. Cardinal Pell is indeed next in the line of cardinals who may be picked to be Pope at the next opportunity. His appointment had been a great honour for this country. He enjoys the respect of the whole governing elite here in Australia. Politicians didn’t dare to intervene with police investigations. The police cannot face interference from political leaders here and this is the result – a clinical operation.

Although I don’t like to see anyone having to go through pain of mind, I have to be happy to realise that I live in a country (Australia) where nobody is above the law.  

Our Police and Gnanasara

The dramatic contrast in Sri Lanka is the case of the rowdy and riotous monk Gnanasara and his BBS goons who go about perpetrating hate attacks against the Muslim community, burning mosques and torching shops. Police in Sri Lanka have gone on record to state that “arresting a Buddhist monk is no easy deal.” Why should that be? I must apologise here for associating Gnanasara with Cardinal Pell. They are poles apart as human beings, at least for now. Right now, George Pell enjoys generous social repute. In contrast, most Sri Lankans seem to be ambivalent with regard to their specimen. The reason for this is the automatic honour bestowed on whoever wears a robe. 

Our Asgiriya Mahanayake took objection to anyone addressing the bloke simply as ‘Gnanasara’. It is bizarre. Are we to call this man who disgraces the religion and the Sangha and who publicly incites racial hatred ‘Venerable’? Are we to genuflect before a rascal like this who has equated himself to one of the lowest behaving laymen? One’s status is one’s doing and it should not be preserved by the costume one dons. Cardinal Pell is not protected by his very high position within the religious establishment. He can be protected only by the law of the land. It is all so funny in Sri Lanka!

Sri Lanka’s era of the Almighty Man

We have the Pell story to offer as another lesson to our people over there in Sri Lanka. Life is peaceful when the law is free to bring alleged offenders to book. In turn, defendants are offered their opportunity to prove their innocence. We call that “due process.”

Until a few years back we had a Constitution which gave total immunity to ‘His Excellency the President’. All presidents, with the exception of poor old D.B. Wijetunga, abused that ‘above-the-law’ privilege. The 10 years of Mahinda Rajapaksa had been the worst.  Palpable abuse of presidential privilege was the norm over those 10 years. His Government even went to the extent of virtually taking over the Attorney General, the Auditor General, the Police and above all the Chief Justice, who was the bastion of justice and freedom for our people. 

Bathed with arrogance and impunity and an egotistical sense of overarching power, the then President just went on the rampage and trampled the freedom of the people. Dissenting journalists were either killed in broad daylight or sent missing under his watch. The white van and the door knock left many trembling. Pedestrians on the road had to rush to the nearest wall and turn their backs with arms raised up when a Government VVIP was passing through in his privileged luxury vehicle. 

During discussions with the President, MPs of his Government would not raise their hands up in protest even if a dengue mosquito bit them. I still hold the image of a murdered Lasantha Wickrematunge. I still hold the image of our heroic soldier, Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka, thrown into jail and, clothed in prison garb, eating from a tin plate with shrapnel from an LTTE bomb still inside his body. I keep the image of the Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, illegally impeached and asked to go home because she defied the Divineguma Bill of the powerful sibling.

That was the era of the Almighty Man. It was also the era of this man’s siblings and kids. One kid gave constant vent to his neurotic fascination for car races, so much so that he held races in a sacred area in Kandy. 

Overtaken by hubris, delusional self-confidence and a false sense of self-righteousness the then President brought in the infamous 18th Amendment to the Constitution that would have kept him in the post for a lifetime; and then to be succeeded by a son or sibling. Saman Deyyo saved our land! He was more powerful than the Deyya in the South Indian Kovil.

The peace that the Supremacy of Law brings

In this part of the world where I live, social and political peace is predicated on the doctrine of the Rule of Law. Individuals get about their business knowing full well that the police will act and that the judiciary will follow to restrain offenders. I may be stating a situation rather idealistically. On the other hand, we know Australia is near that.

It is important for us to occasionally think of those dark times if only for the fact that we will not allow them to be repeated again. The lesson of the Vatican Cardinal should reinforce our resolve to keep the law supreme. I am praying for the abolition of the Executive Presidency.

(The writer can be contacted at [email protected])