POPE VETOES NUNS' INJECTING ROOM ROLE

The Vatican has ordered Sydney's pioneering nuns, the Sisters of Charity,
to abandon Australia's first trial of a legal heroin injecting room in
Kings Cross.

Rome's intervention, unprecedented in Australia, jeopardises the State
Government's trial of a medically supervised injecting room which had
gained enormous political and moral legitimacy from the Sisters' imprimatur.

It is understood that Melbourne's Catholic Archbishop, the Most Rev George
Pell, a member of the Vatican's powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith which issued the decree, is in Rome.

He is a vehement critic of injecting room trials and a member of the
ultra-conservative community inside the Catholic hierarchy.

The Vatican order, in a letter from the Congregation's head, Cardinal
Ratzinger, is also being widely interpreted as a pre-emptive strike against
the promise by Victoria's newly-elected Premier, Mr Bracks, a Catholic, to
establish five legal injecting rooms in Melbourne.

The Sisters of Charity Health Service (SCHS) had offered to operate the
trial of an injecting room and rehabilitation service in Kings Cross in
conjunction with the St Vincent's Drug and Alcohol Service.

The banning order, passed on to the sisters by Sydney's Catholic
Archbishop, Cardinal Clancy, on Wednesday, has sent shockwaves through
Catholic communities, creating an even greater schism between conservative
and more progressive factions.

And while the Special Minister of State, Mr Della Bosca, said last night
that the Government would work hard to find a new operator for the trial,
there was widespread disappointment among supporters and health
professionals who had worked on the project.

Ms Clover Moore, the Independent MP for Bligh, which includes Kings Cross,
and a practising Catholic, was in tears, saying the decree "shows just how
out of touch the Vatican is with the Church at the coalface."

"This is the real work of Christ - saving young lives and getting them in
rehabilitation. I, like many others, am devastated by the Church and now
call on the Government to uphold its commitment to this trial," she said.

Cardinal Clancy's letter said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith saw the injecting room proposal as "not acceptable" and that the nuns
"must withdraw from the program".

The Vatican order, understood to have been received by Cardinal Clancy on
Monday, appears to suggest that the Sisters' involvement was "not
acceptable" for practical rather than moral or ethical reasons.

But last night senior figures inside Sydney's Catholic community were
privately critical of the wording, describing the reasons given in the
letter as "rather confused".

It is understood that the St Vincent's Health Service is not convinced that
full details of the project had been made known to the Vatican nor even the
fact that the facility was to be trialled for effectiveness.

Yesterday, in a strongly worded public response, Sister Annette Cunliffe,
the Sisters' congregational leader, said she was "very disappointed" that
the Vatican had not asked for information on the trial while saying the
sisters would accept Rome's decree.

"The Congregation and its health service will abide by the Vatican's
instruction," she said. "We are saddened by these events and the effect
upon so many.

"We are particularly disappointed for the many staff of the Sisters of
Charity Health Service who have invested months of intensive work in close
collaboration with the NSW Government to prepare the pilot program."

Sister Cunliffe said Cardinal Clancy's letter pointed out that Cardinal
Ratzinger had not questioned or addressed the "more complex moral
principles" of the trial.

She appreciated that Cardinal Clancy had made it clear that the intentions
of the Sisters and St Vincent's Health Service were "beyond question" and
that they had been "scrupulous in their efforts to provide a morally
acceptable service".

"The Sisters of Charity Health Service, Darlinghurst, will work closely
with the NSW Government to ensure a smooth transition to another suitable
operator," she said.

"This decision, whilst disappointing, will not diminish our desire to seek
ways to alleviate this particular form of suffering in the community. The
SCHS will continue to respond to prevalent health and community needs."

The chairman of the SCHS, Mr Peter Joseph, issued a statement yesterday,
saying in part: "While we accept the Vatican's decision, we are troubled by
the way in which it was reached, namely without dialogue or consultation
with those who would be responsible for conducting the trial."

The health service would be making a submission to the Vatican outlining
the philosophical basis of the injecting trail and its perceived practical
benefits.

A spokesman for the Sydney Archdiocese, Father Brian Lucas, said last night
that he knew nothing about Archbishop Pell's involvement in the decision,
saying the debate about the injecting rooms had been widespread enough for
the Vatican to "know about it".