It is said of the doctrine of papal infallibility and of papal definitive acts that; his definitions, of themselves,...are justly held irreformable, for they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy Spirit...
In other words, what il papa in Rome decides to utter as a doctrinal matter of faith or morals is the unalterable truth coming to him through an invisible presence in the heavens on high and, no-one has the right to question his pronouncements.
This explains much about Tony Abbott’s character, his perception of the role of an Australian prime minister, his approach to policy creation and his almost pathological desire for decision-making secrecy.
He thinks he’s the Antipodean pope.
This was Il
papa Anthony in Australia on
10 January 2014, the saint’s day of that other defender of orthodoxy, Gregory of
Nyssa:
The Prime Minister this
morning likened his mission to stopping the boats to a war, and said it should
therefore be understandable that his government was a closed book on asylum
operations so as to not give vital information to the "enemy".....
"In the end we are
in a fierce contest with these people smugglers and if we were at war we
wouldn't be giving out information that is of use to the enemy just because we
might have an idle curiosity about it ourselves,.....
Asked about the current
state of Australian-run detention centres and whether or not they were up to
adequate humanitarian standards, Mr Abbott said he did not apologise that they
were not "five star or even three star hotels".
"Let's remember
that everyone in these centres is there because he or she has come illegally by
boat. They have done something that they must have known was wrong," he
said.
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