Cardinal Pell tells new school: expect attacks from the Devil

A senior Vatican cardinal has warned the founders of a British school dedicated to the new evangelisation to expect attacks from the Devil.

Cardinal George Pell, one of eight “super cardinals” appointed by the Pope to reform the Vatican, made his comments during the Mass of foundation of the School of the Annunciation on Monday.

He described the school, which is based at Buckfast Abbey, the Benedictine monastery in Devon, as a “brave and important” initiative to preach the Gospel anew to the people of the 21st century.

The Australian cardinal, who has agreed to be a patron of the school along with Bishop Mark O’Toole of Plymouth, praised the institution for its mission of Catholic formation, catechesis, apologetics, witness, proclamation and worship.

“All of these are opposed by the Evil One, by the spirit of evil, by the Devil, who has been reintroduced into public discourse by Pope Francis,” said Cardinal Pell in his homily.

The initiative, he said, ran counter to an age in which the numbers of “explicitly irreligious” people were growing and Christians were diminishing to the point where they were at risk of “disappearing into the minority”. He said the school was part of the solution to modern challenges never faced before by the Church and that “difficulties” would therefore be inevitable.

But he said the Benedictines, who are sponsoring the school, were ideal custodians because of their history of perseverance through all kinds of hardship, witnessed by the reconstruction of Buckfast some 350 years after it was dissolved by Henry VIII.

“The ‘new evangelisation’ isn’t only wrestling with the traditional wounds deriving from Original Sin but is doing so in westernised society in which the ancient equilibriums have been thrown out of kilter by the invention of the Pill, and the materialism which sees too many children as too expensive,” Cardinal Pell said.

“The old wounds are being exacerbated in new ways – by the ready availability of drugs, by internet pornography and easy abortion.”

He said Christians today must pray like the Old Testament prophets that God will not abandon them “in these changing times” as the “chosen people” once again turn away from Him in their sins.

Cardinal Pell said he hoped the School of the Annunciation would be like the cave in which the voice of God was discerned by Elijah in the gentleness of a breeze. “We should pray that in this isolated Benedictine retreat – far from the excitement and the turmoil of great cities – many, many thousands of believers will better hear the light, murmuring sound of the one true God and of Christ his Son,” he said.

He continued: “We can’t see clearly what Church forces will characterise the start of the third Christian millennium. It will be different. Many orders will disappear by the end of the century if present trends continue. China will have a larger Christian community than any other country on earth. Catholic life will still be surprising, but I’m sure the Benedictines will survive.”