Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Catholicism—I suppose, Christianity—is a funny thing. As the good Lord said, its two main commandments are to love your god with your whole heart, your whole mind and your whole being and to love your neighbour as yourself—not better than yourself, not less than yourself but as yourself. These speeches, which I rarely do on condolence motions, are incredibly important because of the role of Catholicism and the role of Christianity in the world and what it does.

It only took 1,272 years to get to the next pope outside of Europe. Pope Gregory III was from Syria. It was a bit of a long haul, but they finally got there, and not only did they do that but they found themselves the first Jesuit pope. For the record and for my sins, I was educated at secondary school by the Jesuits, and I always found that the Jesuits were a bit like a religious Diogenes. The other side within the big Catholic family of mine was Opus Dei, which is like a religious Friedrich Nietzsche. This form of what Pope Francis took, I believe, to the world is similar to what I saw as the instrumental people in my life.

I remember going to morning mass with a gentleman who was an astrophysicist called Father Drake. He really only had one sermon. It was the same, and that's why it resonates with you. People can have glorious orations, but when an incredibly clever person just says the same thing over and over again each time they give a sermon, it sticks in your head. It was basically that airs and false graces are the work of the devil, which is a funny way of saying, 'Don't get full of yourself. Just be humble.'

If there's a Jesuit culture, I think it's that. To put it into the Australian lexicon, it's this: be smart; don't act it. Don't act what you aren't, and make sure that you try and inform yourself as best you can, but do not use it to intimidate or belittle others. You'll see it in other people who have been educated by the Jesuits, to be quite frank. Tony Abbott is a classic example of it. He is an incredibly clever person, but he never used it. His machismo at the beach was not his egoism when he was speaking to you. He accepted people and spoke to people on their level, and that was very much the Jesuit ethos. So it was with a great sense of pride that the Jesuits had Pope Francis.

Pope Francis had a pretty good run at it. He was born in 1936, so he had a pretty full life. All the way through, his life was one of challenge and success. That's also something that we should gather up and try to apply as best we can to our own lives.

It being 1,272 years since Pope Gregory III, he also talked about where the Catholic Church is taking a vital but obvious step: the Catholic Church is moving on from Europe. European Catholicism will be in the minority, if it isn't already. Catholicism is now so vibrant in Africa. Even in my local area, the southern Indian community is incredibly involved. Our priests are from the southern Indian community. There is the Philippine community and, obviously, the South American community. There is Timor-Leste. This is where the church is going. It's strength is growing and growing and the culture of Catholicism is moving. In the past, it was influenced, I suppose, by Ireland and the Italians. It is now moving, to be influenced more by India, the Philippines and Africa. We've had Nigerian priests at home—I'm a practising Catholic; I don't pretend to be a good one. Pope Francis was probably the first step towards that, and now I believe, and I hope, that those steps go on, because that's a good thing.

Catholicism, by its very nature, is termed the 'universal church'. It's not the European church. It's not the Irish church. It's not the Italian church. It's the universal church. The pope we have now is another step towards that. He is yet another non-European pope. We do see that there are still vestiges that they hold on to. The heritage of Pope Francis was Italian, so there was still that connection, but the connection and tether is growing more tenuous. That umbilical cord will be cut, and we look forward to a time—although I might not be there—when we have a Philippine or Chinese pope. The Catholic community in China is massive. Most of it is underground, but it is massive.

This is where the church will go. You can't stop Christianity, because it offers hope. What it offers is that you put yourself in equivalence with but never above people. You treat people with respect and as though they are on the same level as you. You don't have to treat them as though they are above you; you don't have to treat them as though they are below you. You treat them as though they are on the same level as you. Love your neighbour as you would yourself—not better, not worse.

On that evolution of Catholicism, in the past we had a very parochial, partisan Australia, and you never saw that parochialism in a more vibrant form than in my seat of New England. It's not called New England for nothing! She was a tough game! I'm the first Catholic member for New England; it only took 113 years! And even that required a lot of explanation to people. And now I've got a very strong vote; I hope it's not because I'm Catholic! I'm absolutely certain it's not.

Just to give you an example, my very good mates, guys I've played footy with—I think football broke the ice—would quite openly say, 'Catholics are not allowed in our house; absolutely not.' If Catholics did go to their houses they'd be going in through the tradesmans door, not the main door. Catholics were not allowed into certain social events and not allowed to be part of certain races or sporting events, and—here's the big one that is part of the unfortunate history of where I live. At the start—this is from people I respect, who'd know the history—when the major properties moved in, the Aboriginals were poisoned out, as were the Catholic settlers. That's part of the unfortunate history of Australia. Things have moved on; that's a great thing for Australia.

In the past, the idea that I would be in the National Party and a Catholic was highly, highly unusual. People, when they'd had a few drinks, would mention, 'It's amazing you're a Catholic.' I say that so that people understand the history of Australia and the evolvement of global Catholicism, which works hand in glove with the evolvement of Australian Catholicism.

The very important thing about having a condolence motion for Pope Francis is to not make it a wallowing motion for Pope Francis, because he's in heaven; that's the game plan. If you get to heaven, things are all right. If you have a faith and you believe there's something beyond our comprehension, which in our very simple terms we call heaven—if we can't comprehend the power of the Almighty, if we can't comprehend the vastness of the universe, if we can't comprehend the mathematics of how it all sticks together, if we can't comprehend all the complexities that would go into making a leaf, if we can't do it ourselves, then I don't believe we can comprehend God; it is beyond our comprehension. So we come up with very simple terms for very complex outcomes, but in those very complex outcomes resides Pope Francis. I always go for a really simple thing, without getting too deep: if man—or a binary term that we can call everybody—didn't exist, we wouldn't know the universe exists. It would be something that's invisible. Our knowledge of it is the only reason that it exists for any purpose. In that vastness are people trying to explain the spirituality of who we are.

A pope is incredibly important. I don't think for one second it's just the Pope that has that understanding; I think anybody who delves deeply into the spiritual inevitably has not a perfect insight—no-one has perfect insight—but a greater insight than others which is always worthwhile to listen to. And a pope, especially someone of this acumen, which he was, as a Jesuit—it's not because he was a Jesuit but because of the culture of the Jesuits to try and get you to advance yourself. For Jesuits, your duty is to get yourself to the highest level not for yourself but to help others; that is why you do it. That's precisely what Pope Francis did; he was a man for others. He advanced himself not for himself, and all the time, in his appearance, he acted with humility; if you do otherwise, you're putting yourself above those you serve. That was a great example to us.

I do this out of respect for Pope Francis. I commend the role that a pope has. When you look at it, you say, 'How do you divine what actions you should do, to try and filter out things that sometimes get thrown into, but are not, Christianity and Catholicism?' I think the best way is Matthew 25:35-40, which goes like this. They're saying, 'How do you get to heaven?' He says:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

It goes on and it basically says:

… whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

It doesn't say a whole heap of other things—you prostrated yourself on the ground every day and did this or you paraded around. It doesn't talk to a whole range of things that later on get meshed into it. It's quite simple: look after other people. To get to heaven, it's not about you; it's about you looking after other people. Now, why is that important? It is because I believe that's the creed that Pope Francis lived and I believe that's the message he was leaving others. Look after others and, by looking after others and meeting people at their level, not presuming they're above you nor below you—they're at your level—that will put you in the best capacity to have an insight into something that's way beyond your comprehension but exists, which is the Almighty.

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