"Catholic politicians can't have it both ways on sensitive moral issues."

From an interview with George Cardinal Pell in the May 2011 issue of Catholic World Report:

In regard to marriage and family, would you say that the passage of time since 1968 has further vindicated Pope Paul VI's restatement of Catholic teaching in Humanae Vitae?

Cardinal Pell: Certainly. Recent research suggests that 50 years of the contraceptive pill has changed the marriage market irrevocably by creating two markets—one for transient sexual relationships or one-night stands and another for child-rearing.

This has made it easier for men to delay commitment, has undermined marriage, and has triggered a redistribution of wealth and power from women and children to men.

This is reinforced by what many say is a new front in the sexual revolution, the modern "hook-up" culture in which young people have expanded the quaint concept of monogamous relationships to include "sex buddies and late-night booty calls."

This new sex paradigm is ultimately destructive to the Christian concept of encouraging life-long relationships to produce children for the benefit of society.

One of the roles of people like myself and Christians and those who believe in family life is to say to young people, "You're encouraged to minutely examine the Christian position, and sometimes you examine it minutely from a hostile perspective. Be as discriminatory and as careful to examine the alternative just as closely and see what works."

I say to young people, "Look at the adults you admire who seem to be happy and productive, then find out what principles are inspiring those people."

What is your view of those avowedly Catholic politicians who adopt public stances in clear opposition to Church teaching on key moral issues like abortion or same-sex marriage?

Cardinal Pell: Some politicians like to dine at the Catholic cafeteria—picking and choosing Church teachings that suit their political views while claiming to be defenders of the faith. While they fly under the Christian or "Captain Catholic" flag, they blithely disregard Christian perspectives when they vote in Parliament on moral issues.

If a person says, "Look, I'm not a Christian, I've a different set of perspectives," I disagree but I understand. If a person says to me, "Look, I'm nominally a Christian but it sits lightly with me," I understand that.

But it's incongruous for people to be Captain Catholics one minute, saying they're as good a Catholic as the Pope, then to turn around an regularly vote against the established Christian traditions.

In England, if you're anti-Catholic—say, writing for The Guardian or The Independent—you wear that anti-Catholicism or anti-Christianity as a badge of honor. Here in Australia, politicians who regularly espouse anti-Christian positions—whether on euthanasia, abortion, same-sex marriage, or funding for religious schools—won't concede that they're anti-Christian.

Catholic politicians can't have it both ways on sensitive moral issues.

Read the entire interview, in which Cardinal Pell also talks about the new missal translation and global warming (and other topics), on the new CWR website.