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1. Good on you, Cardinal Pell, and so pleased you were asked to celebrate the Jubilee at St James's Church.
   The Queen has been a great and gracious lady, truthful to her vows to serve the peoples of the Commonwealth of Nations, the former British Empire.
   The prayers of the anthem 'God Save the Queen' have truly been heard over all these years.
   We have all been blessed by her example of service.

   Posted By: peter donnelly

2. "Ascension" or "Accession"?

   Posted By: Kevin Lewis

3. What a pity the children of Australia must learn that they can never (under the existing arrangements) be head-of-state in their own country.
   This is probably because those Australians who want their own head-of-state (irrespective of where that person is born, irrespective of religion or gender) cannot find a widely acceptable model.
   

   Posted By: R.M.

4. Here, here, Peter Donnelly!
   The Queen has been a tremendous example during the decades.
   It is great to have a head of state who is above cheap politics.
   A President would be just another politician, and we already have plenty of them.

   Posted By: Adam Armstrong

5. God bless Her Majesty.

   Posted By: Peter in Canberra

6. There is nobody who could do the job of being the Head of State for Australia other than Queen Elizabeth.
   How wonderful that she is receiving all these accolades on the occasion of her diamond jubilee.
   When she was a little girl, her parents had a serious talk with her, after the abdication of her uncle, saying that her life would never be the same again, instilling in the young Elizabeth a sense of duty and commitment that she has never lost.
   Who would make a better head of State?
   Someone like the Queen, who from her youth was prepared for her unique destiny, or somebody arbitrarily picked by a Prime Minister to do this role?
   We have enough politicians, and the head of State should be someone above politics, who unites people, rather than divides them.

   Posted By: Andrew Rabel

7. The website of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy (consulted today 8/2/2012) under the sub-heading "honour" states that at the 1998 Constitutional Convention Cardinal Pell endorsed the referendum model [for a republic].
   He also praised the discipline of the monarchists saying the disarray of the republicans the previous day "was our own undoing".
   Obviously using the phrase "our own undoing" he associated himself with the republican grouping.
   His support for a republic was widely publicised in the Catholic press.
   In no way am I trying to embarrass the cardinal.
   The situation in Australia might have changed and I do not know his current views.

   Posted By: R.M.

8. I have recorded accurately the report on the website of Australians for a Constitutional monarchy referring to Cardinal Pell as "Cardinal".
   Just a technicality but I believe at the time of the Constitutional Convention when Cardinal Pell supported the republican model he was then Archbishop Pell.

   Posted By: R.M.

9. Yes R.M., the situation in Australia has changed.
   Many of us who were ardent republicans now support Australia's current system of government.
   Partly because it has now become obvious that the push for a republic is for many a smokescreen to further promote atheism as the official religion of our Christian country.

   Posted By: Peter G

10. Peter G: You will be sadly disappointed if you are relying on the royals to take any significant steps to stop the spread of atheism.
    They will go with the flow (with survival in mind), particularly the parliamentary vote flow. Which is what they are all about.
    Both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the (Catholic) Archbishop of Westminster, about 10 years ago, were reported as having said Britain was no longer a Christian country.
    The House of Commons parliamentary bill that made London the then abortion capital of Europe in the 1960s was presumably signed off by the monarch. (When a similar situation arose in Belgium the monarch "stood down" for a few days rather than sign).
    The London abortion bill preceded the similar South Australian euthanasia bill introduced by the Country Liberal Steele Hall Government - an appalling first for Australia.
    As for euthanasia, please consult the internet for the circumstances of the death of the Queen's grandfather King George V in 1936 (not the current monarch's fault, of course, but a pretty fair indication of how royals function).
    Incidentally, last time I looked most countries in the Commonwealth were republics.

    Posted By: R.M.

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