What do you think?
Rate this book
Dziennik więzienny. Odrzucenie
Niewinny! Ten ostateczny werdykt został wydany po czterech latach udręki – publicznych oskarżeń, śledztwa, procesu i medialnego linczu – oraz ponad roku więzienia za przestępstwo, którego kard. George Pell nie popełnił!
Sąd Najwyższy Australii ostatecznie całkowicie uniewinnił 78-letniego kardynała i oczyścił z zarzutów o przestępstwo na tle seksualnym. Było to nie tylko osobiste zwycięstwo hierarchy nad niesprawiedliwością, ale i nadzieja dla całego Kościoła katolickiego, iż prawda zawsze ostatecznie zatriumfuje.
Nie żywiąc niechęci do swoich oskarżycieli, sędziów, pracowników więziennictwa, dziennikarzy oraz osób wyrażających wobec niego nienawiść, kard. Pell wykorzystał pobyt w więzieniu jako swego rodzaju „przedłużone rekolekcje”. Sumiennie przy tym wypełniał strony zeszytu swoimi duchowymi refleksjami oraz spostrzeżeniami na temat bieżących wydarzeń i więziennego życia. Z jego zapisków wyłania się portret człowieka niezłomnej wiary i ogromnej dojrzałości duchowej, poddawanego próbie jak biblijny Hiob, który może się stać inspiracją i wzorem dla współczesnego człowieka.
Sąd Najwyższy Australii ostatecznie całkowicie uniewinnił 78-letniego kardynała i oczyścił z zarzutów o przestępstwo na tle seksualnym. Było to nie tylko osobiste zwycięstwo hierarchy nad niesprawiedliwością, ale i nadzieja dla całego Kościoła katolickiego, iż prawda zawsze ostatecznie zatriumfuje.
Nie żywiąc niechęci do swoich oskarżycieli, sędziów, pracowników więziennictwa, dziennikarzy oraz osób wyrażających wobec niego nienawiść, kard. Pell wykorzystał pobyt w więzieniu jako swego rodzaju „przedłużone rekolekcje”. Sumiennie przy tym wypełniał strony zeszytu swoimi duchowymi refleksjami oraz spostrzeżeniami na temat bieżących wydarzeń i więziennego życia. Z jego zapisków wyłania się portret człowieka niezłomnej wiary i ogromnej dojrzałości duchowej, poddawanego próbie jak biblijny Hiob, który może się stać inspiracją i wzorem dla współczesnego człowieka.
448 pages, Paperback
Published June 6, 2022
7 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
George Pell
23 books23 followersGeorge Pell was an Australian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and the inaugural Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, from 2014 to 2019, and was a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers between 2013 and 2018.
He previously served as the eighth Archbishop of Sydney (2001-2014), Auxiliary Bishop (1987–1996) and Archbishop (1996–2001) of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. He was created a cardinal in 2003.
He previously served as the eighth Archbishop of Sydney (2001-2014), Auxiliary Bishop (1987–1996) and Archbishop (1996–2001) of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. He was created a cardinal in 2003.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 26, 2021
Volume 1 The Cardinal Makes His Appeal was an incredible read. And volume 2 is just a good. I stated of Volume 1 that: “Not since reading the works of Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen van Thuan and Alfred Delp have I been so moved.” This book is an amazing read and I was not aware until towards the end that there would be a volume three. This book is very encouraging, in that Cardinal Pell was aware of his innocence, and yet endured much. Including a sham of an appellate courts 2 to 1 decision. But through it all his faith was strong. His compassion immense. And his concern and care for others amazing. He shows concern and care for the alleged victims, other inmates, the guards, and even the misguided judges.
This volume spans the time in solitary confinement from July 2019 to November 2019. At the beginning is a chronology that spans from Pell’s being named auxiliary Bishop in 1995 to his high court appeal in 2020. The first entry is from Sunday, 14 July 2019 that first entry as a sample is:
“Elijah has returned, not as John the Baptist, but in excerpts from the Book of Kings which will run in the breviary as the first reading for the next week.
He is one of my heroes, from the ninth century BC, Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe, “the troubler of Israel” who confronted Ahab, King of Israel, who “did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all that were before him”, and the even more formidable Queen Jezebel.
I have a beautiful two-hundred-year-old Russian icon of Elijah in my private chapel in Rome, and I revere him because he saved monotheism when it risked being eclipsed by paganism, in this case by Baal. The good Lord chose Elijah with Moses to represent the ancient dispensation at the miracle of the Transfiguration.
It is not enough to be spiritual in a sentimental, episodic fashion, because we are called to acknowledge and love the one true God. Immense consequences follow in daily life from the presence or absence of monotheism, as we are beginning to see in Western societies as God is obscured. George Steiner was one of the most brilliant, if maverick, intellectuals of the twentieth century, and he ascribed the visceral, counterproductive, and insane Nazi hatred of the Jewish people to the fact that Hitler and the Nazi leadership, as heads of arguably the most diabolical movement in all history (only Stalin’s or Mao’s Communism would be competitors), hated the Jews because they were the chosen people who brought monotheism into history. This wasn’t the Nazis’ stated aim or explanation, but it has a ring of truth for me. Their hatred was blind, fanatical, driven by a Force even greater than their infamous selves.
The breviary excerpt recounts the start of Elijah’s story as he confronts Ahab and prophesies the drought. Forced to flee, not for the last time, he is fed by ravens at the Cherith brook and then by the widow and her son, also starving, at Zarephath from her inexhaustible meal in the jar and oil in her cruse. She gave something from nothing, at Elijah’s request, and was rewarded with a constant supply until the drought broke.
My self-awareness alarm almost worked such that I missed only the early part of Mass for You at Home, celebrated again by Fr Michael Kalka, who preached a good moralistic sermon.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended the Hillsong Conference1 last weekend and prayed publicly, but he wasn’t present today with Pastor Houston,2 who preached on the rain in your life, once again reverting to pattern, from an Old Testament text in Genesis. The congregation was different from last week, a little more animated, and he prompted the best response when he defended “good old-fashioned lettuce” against this newly arrived kale. He got my vote on that issue.
Joseph Prince’s3 theme was similar, as he talked about “the year of latter rain”. Untypically, his text was from the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy. As always, he was Christocentric when he preached on the harvest of plenty and the damage wrought by plagues of locusts in our personal lives.
Songs of Praise was again from a British church, St John’s in Hackney, and featured a mixed black choir singing Negro spirituals. These developed among the tens of thousands of slaves on the plantations in North America from the Protestant hymns of John and Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts. These beautiful hymns move at different levels, religious, sociological, almost political. When Joshua “fought the battle of Jericho, the walls came tumbling down”; they sang that “my trials will soon be over” and that the famous chariot swung low—“coming for to carry me home”.
A couple of exercise sessions outside under an overcast sky and drizzle in the afternoon. The inventory of what the property section believes I have in my cell arrived, thanks to the section’s cooperative senior officer. It wasn’t completely accurate, but I passed two books and two Quadrants to Kartya.4 After a quiet couple of days, we have a noisy banger and shouter, in short bursts. But he doesn’t sound distraught.
The life of Elijah and, indeed, St Thomas More’s own life and execution show that More was correct when he wrote to his children twenty-five years before his death, “We cannot go to heaven in feather beds.””
Both St Thomas More and Elijah and themes that will repeat multiple times through out this work. And Pell drew great strength and encouragement from their examples.
The beginning of the introduction to volume 1 George Weigel states:
“This prison journal should never have been written.
That it was written is a testament to the capacity of God’s grace to inspire insight, magnanimity, and goodness amidst wickedness, evil, and injustice. That it was written so beautifully bears witness to the Christian character that divine grace formed in its author, George Cardinal Pell.
How and why the author found himself in prison for over thirteen months for crimes he did not commit, and indeed could not have committed, is another story, far less edifying. A brief telling of this tawdry tale will, however, set the necessary context for what you are about to read, even as it underscores just how remarkable this journal is.”
And I stated in my review of that volume: “I had followed this story from afar. And was praying for both Cardinal Pell and the accuser. What I did not realize at the time was the depth of misinformation, And personal trials that Pell endured with faith, hope, and humility.” This volume contains his first failed appeal, to the granting of a second appeal. While reading it we gleam a lot more information about the cases, the legal process, and the improbability if not impossibility of Pell having committed the crimes he was charged with.
It was very fascinating to read this journal. It continues to bring to life in a new way the reality of life in prison. Strip searches, delayed mail, indignities, and bizarre rules or requirements. But also, the life of a deep enduring faith. This volume delves deeper into the Vatican Banking Scandal which many believe was the cause of Pell being set up to get him out of the way. The final words in this volume are:
“So, too, in Vatican finance, the divide is between those who strive to prevent and eliminate corruption and incompetence and those who are unwilling to do so, for whatever reason.
I conclude with a verse from the Canticle of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus 36):
Have compassion on the Holy City,
Jerusalem, the place of your rest.
Let Sion ring with your praises,
let your temple be filled with your glory.”
This book is an excellent follow up volume. Written with both passion and piety. Heartfelt. Sometimes documenting the mundane daily activities in prison and at others the spiritual and secular battle for the truth to out. Another excellent read, with the possibility of becoming a classic. Andy while stating that I cannot help but think of Watchman Nee’s A Spiritual Man. A book that will encourage, and challenge us in our own lives.
A fantastic read that I highly recommend.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2021 Catholic Reading Plan!
This volume spans the time in solitary confinement from July 2019 to November 2019. At the beginning is a chronology that spans from Pell’s being named auxiliary Bishop in 1995 to his high court appeal in 2020. The first entry is from Sunday, 14 July 2019 that first entry as a sample is:
“Elijah has returned, not as John the Baptist, but in excerpts from the Book of Kings which will run in the breviary as the first reading for the next week.
He is one of my heroes, from the ninth century BC, Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe, “the troubler of Israel” who confronted Ahab, King of Israel, who “did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all that were before him”, and the even more formidable Queen Jezebel.
I have a beautiful two-hundred-year-old Russian icon of Elijah in my private chapel in Rome, and I revere him because he saved monotheism when it risked being eclipsed by paganism, in this case by Baal. The good Lord chose Elijah with Moses to represent the ancient dispensation at the miracle of the Transfiguration.
It is not enough to be spiritual in a sentimental, episodic fashion, because we are called to acknowledge and love the one true God. Immense consequences follow in daily life from the presence or absence of monotheism, as we are beginning to see in Western societies as God is obscured. George Steiner was one of the most brilliant, if maverick, intellectuals of the twentieth century, and he ascribed the visceral, counterproductive, and insane Nazi hatred of the Jewish people to the fact that Hitler and the Nazi leadership, as heads of arguably the most diabolical movement in all history (only Stalin’s or Mao’s Communism would be competitors), hated the Jews because they were the chosen people who brought monotheism into history. This wasn’t the Nazis’ stated aim or explanation, but it has a ring of truth for me. Their hatred was blind, fanatical, driven by a Force even greater than their infamous selves.
The breviary excerpt recounts the start of Elijah’s story as he confronts Ahab and prophesies the drought. Forced to flee, not for the last time, he is fed by ravens at the Cherith brook and then by the widow and her son, also starving, at Zarephath from her inexhaustible meal in the jar and oil in her cruse. She gave something from nothing, at Elijah’s request, and was rewarded with a constant supply until the drought broke.
My self-awareness alarm almost worked such that I missed only the early part of Mass for You at Home, celebrated again by Fr Michael Kalka, who preached a good moralistic sermon.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended the Hillsong Conference1 last weekend and prayed publicly, but he wasn’t present today with Pastor Houston,2 who preached on the rain in your life, once again reverting to pattern, from an Old Testament text in Genesis. The congregation was different from last week, a little more animated, and he prompted the best response when he defended “good old-fashioned lettuce” against this newly arrived kale. He got my vote on that issue.
Joseph Prince’s3 theme was similar, as he talked about “the year of latter rain”. Untypically, his text was from the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy. As always, he was Christocentric when he preached on the harvest of plenty and the damage wrought by plagues of locusts in our personal lives.
Songs of Praise was again from a British church, St John’s in Hackney, and featured a mixed black choir singing Negro spirituals. These developed among the tens of thousands of slaves on the plantations in North America from the Protestant hymns of John and Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts. These beautiful hymns move at different levels, religious, sociological, almost political. When Joshua “fought the battle of Jericho, the walls came tumbling down”; they sang that “my trials will soon be over” and that the famous chariot swung low—“coming for to carry me home”.
A couple of exercise sessions outside under an overcast sky and drizzle in the afternoon. The inventory of what the property section believes I have in my cell arrived, thanks to the section’s cooperative senior officer. It wasn’t completely accurate, but I passed two books and two Quadrants to Kartya.4 After a quiet couple of days, we have a noisy banger and shouter, in short bursts. But he doesn’t sound distraught.
The life of Elijah and, indeed, St Thomas More’s own life and execution show that More was correct when he wrote to his children twenty-five years before his death, “We cannot go to heaven in feather beds.””
Both St Thomas More and Elijah and themes that will repeat multiple times through out this work. And Pell drew great strength and encouragement from their examples.
The beginning of the introduction to volume 1 George Weigel states:
“This prison journal should never have been written.
That it was written is a testament to the capacity of God’s grace to inspire insight, magnanimity, and goodness amidst wickedness, evil, and injustice. That it was written so beautifully bears witness to the Christian character that divine grace formed in its author, George Cardinal Pell.
How and why the author found himself in prison for over thirteen months for crimes he did not commit, and indeed could not have committed, is another story, far less edifying. A brief telling of this tawdry tale will, however, set the necessary context for what you are about to read, even as it underscores just how remarkable this journal is.”
And I stated in my review of that volume: “I had followed this story from afar. And was praying for both Cardinal Pell and the accuser. What I did not realize at the time was the depth of misinformation, And personal trials that Pell endured with faith, hope, and humility.” This volume contains his first failed appeal, to the granting of a second appeal. While reading it we gleam a lot more information about the cases, the legal process, and the improbability if not impossibility of Pell having committed the crimes he was charged with.
It was very fascinating to read this journal. It continues to bring to life in a new way the reality of life in prison. Strip searches, delayed mail, indignities, and bizarre rules or requirements. But also, the life of a deep enduring faith. This volume delves deeper into the Vatican Banking Scandal which many believe was the cause of Pell being set up to get him out of the way. The final words in this volume are:
“So, too, in Vatican finance, the divide is between those who strive to prevent and eliminate corruption and incompetence and those who are unwilling to do so, for whatever reason.
I conclude with a verse from the Canticle of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus 36):
Have compassion on the Holy City,
Jerusalem, the place of your rest.
Let Sion ring with your praises,
let your temple be filled with your glory.”
This book is an excellent follow up volume. Written with both passion and piety. Heartfelt. Sometimes documenting the mundane daily activities in prison and at others the spiritual and secular battle for the truth to out. Another excellent read, with the possibility of becoming a classic. Andy while stating that I cannot help but think of Watchman Nee’s A Spiritual Man. A book that will encourage, and challenge us in our own lives.
A fantastic read that I highly recommend.
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2021 Catholic Reading Plan!
September 21, 2025
The way the Cardinal copes with his appeal being rejected is inspiring. In true Australian fashion he doesn’t dwell on the obvious pain and frustration this must have caused him but instead just gets back to his musings on the world, the Church and his prison routine. It does all get a little repetitive at this point (much like being in solitary confinement would) so my four star rating is due to the book being a bit more tedious to get through than the last one.
October 14, 2022
After reading Volume 1, I knew the routine of Volume 2. This is prison, after all. I don't think Cardinal Pell has to worry about being institutionalized, the prison life would be enjoyable if it were freely chosen. It's a retreat to get closer to God.
Cardinal Pell amazes me in that his first impulse was to pray for people. There're screamers and bangers, even the inmate who spit on him, he interiorly lifts them up to God. Who does that? Of course everyone does that eventually, but that's not a knee-jerk reaction. The cardinal is still upbeat and expects the truth will eventually win. Not only is his faith strong, so is his compassion. He has never said anything bad about the guards, or the judges, the juries, and even his accuser.
In Volume II, the cardinal is beginning to suspect that he was set up. His job in Rome led him to get closer to finding the stench in Vatican Banking. Having him accused of sex crimes, certainly got him out of the way. We'll have to read Volume 3, to see what happens.
Cardinal Pell amazes me in that his first impulse was to pray for people. There're screamers and bangers, even the inmate who spit on him, he interiorly lifts them up to God. Who does that? Of course everyone does that eventually, but that's not a knee-jerk reaction. The cardinal is still upbeat and expects the truth will eventually win. Not only is his faith strong, so is his compassion. He has never said anything bad about the guards, or the judges, the juries, and even his accuser.
In Volume II, the cardinal is beginning to suspect that he was set up. His job in Rome led him to get closer to finding the stench in Vatican Banking. Having him accused of sex crimes, certainly got him out of the way. We'll have to read Volume 3, to see what happens.
October 2, 2021
The sequel to the first volume - covers the period before and after Pell's appeal to the state was rejected. An extremely moving portrait of how a man of deep faith coped with his incarceration for crimes for which he should never have been found guilty. Highly recommended.
November 16, 2021
Loved this, just as much as the first one. Thus, read a few chapters each day, knowing I now have to wait a while for the 3 one.
A must read for any Catholic, going through some hard times, learning to trust God and goodness of people around you.
A must read for any Catholic, going through some hard times, learning to trust God and goodness of people around you.
March 18, 2024
Prison life is hard. Battling the legal system to prove your innocence takes courage.Wisdom is needed when your faith is tested every day.Yet Cardinal Pell has many interesting stories to tell the reader
January 1, 2026
Excellent follow up to George Cardinal Pell’s first volume of Prison Journal. There were many highlights and notes, with several new books to read after completing volume 3 of the Prison Journals. Highly recommended…SLT
June 18, 2025
Beautiful and inspiring.
June 1, 2021
The second volume of Cardinal Perl’s prison memoir. The Cardinal is an able writer who writes fluently and with insight about his time in prison, the progress of his case, his ample correspondence, and the Vatican. There are references to Church teachings, Church politics, Glimpses of Australian history, and much else. You’re in good company with Cardinal Pell.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews