Sydney, Australia
When Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was sworn into office on 23rd May following his election two days earlier, he became only the sixth person to come to the role from a Catholic background.
According to the new Prime Minister, the Catholic Church was among “three great loves” he gained in his upbringing – the other two being the Labor Party and the South Sydney Rabbitohs football team. But what kind of leader will he be? And how will his Catholic background influence him in office?
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo, Japan, on 24th May. PICTURE: Reuters/Issei Kato/Pool.
Sight asked a couple of experts on church and political history about the faith background of Australia’s Prime Minister.
Roy Williams, who has written extensively about Australia’s Prime Ministers and their faith including in his 2013 book In God They Trust?, suggested that while the Prime Minister’s exact beliefs were not entirely clear, there were a few evident influences from Catholic social teaching.
“Albo has said many times that his Catholic upbringing has had a profound influence on him, and there is no good reason to doubt that this influence will continue to be felt into his Prime ministership,” Williams said.
“He describes himself as a non-practising Catholic, and it is unclear to me what he believes as to key theological issues such as the divinity of Christ and the sacrificial purpose of His death. But it is certain that Albo believes passionately in the social justice teachings of the Vatican.”
According to Williams, the teachings of the Catholic Church in papal encyclicals such as Rerum Novarum in 1891 were important in shaping the early Australian Labor Party at the time of its formation.
“The basic idea is that because all human beings are made in the image of God, all are equal in the sight of God and are inherently precious as individuals: at the socio-political level, this requires that a fair and compassionate balance be struck between the extremes of laissez faire capitalism on the one hand and command-and-control authoritarianism on the other,” Williams said.
“Albo himself, via his late mother and his schooling in the Catholic system, imbibed those basic teachings as a boy. He has also been influenced by the Irish and Italian aspects of his heritage and upbringing. Very broadly speaking, at least in the Australian context, these tend to give rise to a powerful sense of loyalty to one’s community of origin.”
“In all these respects, Albo stands in a long line of Labor prime ministers and other key figures in the history of the Labor movement, including Jim Scullin, Ben Chifley, Arthur Calwell, Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd, and Bill Shorten. There are also striking points of similarity with US president Joe Biden.”
John Warhurst, a social scientist and convenor of Concerned Catholics – a group that seeks to renew the Catholic Church in order to make it more open and accountable, told Sight that there were a few areas where he could see overlap between Albanese’s Catholic upbringing and political views.
However, Warhurst noted that it was only in recent times Albanese had commented on his Catholic roots.
‘He’s never played them up,’ he said.
Warhurst added that Albanese may have made his Catholic background known due to his election opponent being a well-known Pentecostal.
“Perhaps because of the contest with the [former Prime Minister Scott Morrison], religious issues became an issue “ he said.
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Albanese met with Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher during the campaign, a meeting that Warhurst said had received attention in Catholic media.
“I see Albanese as sharing [what] all of the Labor members [have] with the Catholic roots but not really everyday involvement,” Warhurst said. “I’m not sure whether Albanese has made his connection himself.”
Warhurst said that, while Concerned Catholics and the Albanese Labor Government had different focal points, there was some overlap between their goals.
Concerned Catholics formed in 2017, and is especially focused on church renewal in the wake of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse.
“It was that specific issue concerned about accountability and cultural change,” Warhurst recalled.
Concerned Catholics is an advocacy and lobby group within the church that works towards support for the truth, justice, and healing council.
“We’re reaching out to the broader catholic community,” Warhurst said, adding that the emphasis of integrity in government “is something both the church and state should be [concerned with]”.
Correction: Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher’s name has been corrected.
