PELL AND THE POPE SHOULD BE ASHAMED

I FIND it difficult to contain my dismay and anger at the Vatican's
extraordinary and secret decision to forbid the participation of the
Sisters of Charity in the proposed safe injecting room in Sydney.

The decision is all the more extraordinary in that the Catholic Church has
a proud record for its support of the weak, the homeless, the sick, the
dying and the imprisoned; one need only mention the St Vincent de Paul
Society as one example. There are many others.

The church has always recognised the existence of human frailty and has
made its agencies available to assist those who need their support.

The facility proposed in Sydney was as fine an attempt to deal with one
aspect of the drug problem as could be found anywhere in the world.

The medical and caring back-up provided by St Vincent's Hospital ensured
that any medical and psychological problems associated with its patients
would receive the highest level of professional attention.

Australia is at the cutting edge of treatment, research and understanding
of appropriate methods to cope with the problems associated with drug use.

Skilled professionals in the field know there is no one simple solution;
nor should solutions be eliminated without trial on the basis of a
stubborn, rigid and pathetic refusal to consider the core problems
associated with drugs. The need to minimise the harm caused by the taking
of drugs and the reduction of unnecessary deaths is a central feature of
Australian practice.

I can only wonder at the quality of advice available to the secret Vatican
institution that did not even seek advice from the Sisters of Charity.

It is particularly concerning that Archbishop George Pell, who is a member
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and a longstanding
protege of Cardinal Ratzinger, apparently made no serious attempt to inform
the Vatican of the views of Australian professionals; no doubt that
reflected his own rigid views on this matter.

Unfortunately this attitude of secrecy is not new. The distinguished Dutch
church historian L.J. Rogier, speaking of the Catholic Church in the 18th
century, wrote: "Anyone who surveys the cultural history of the 18th
century will constantly miss the participation of the Church and its
supreme government in discussions of burning issues of the time. If Rome
intervened at all, it was in a completely negative way, with a monitum, an
anathema, or by imposing the obligation to keep silent."

Nothing has changed.

At a time when it is hoped that Australia is about to vote for the removal
of an inappropriate foreign monarch as our head of state and choose a
republic as our independent form of government, it is ironic that we should
see this different form of foreign intervention as acceptable.

The Vatican and its advisers should be ashamed of themselves.

Former royal commissioner Frank Costigan, QC, was chairman of the Drug
Rehabilitation Fund in Victoria for six years, and has two sisters in the
Sisters of Charity. E-mail: opinion@theage.fairfax.com.au