Family attributes toddler’s recovery after near-drowning to Cardinal Pell’s intercession

The parents of a toddler who miraculously survived near-drowning in the family swimming pool have attributed his recovery to the intercession of the deceased Australian cardinal, George Pell.

Caitlin and Wesley Robinson, who are expecting their ninth child, were preparing the family to visit relatives after Sunday Mass when Wesley, the father, realised that their then 14-month-old son Vincent was missing.

Vincent’s father found him at the bottom of the family’s spa attached to their backyard swimming pool. The toddler arrived at hospital without a pulse and, after 52 minutes of resuscitation, was placed on life support.

Shortly after the accident, the couple began praying to the late Cardinal Pell for a miracle. The couple had met the late Archbishop of Sydney when he visited Arizona in 2021 and had been hugely impressed by him. They also sought the intercession of Blessed Conchita, a Mexican mother of nine whose youngest son died of drowning.

On Ash Wednesday a novena was begun, asking the intercession of Blessed Fr Michael McGivney, the 19th-century founder of the Knights of Columbus. By the ninth day, Vincent was discharged in full health.

Doctors have described the miraculous turnaround as “very hard to explain”.

His elated parents told The Catholic Weekly: “We do feel like the miracle happened for a reason, we want to spread our story and do good and strengthen everyone’s faith.”

A distinguished cardinal and member of the Curia, Pell served as the prefect of the newly formed Secretariat for the Economy from 2014 to 2019 and was a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers from 2013 to 2018.

However, in 2018 Pell was convicted of the abuse of two boys in 1996 at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Sydney, and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. 

In 2019 he appealed to the High Court of Australia, the final court of appeal in the country. The court, in a unanimous judgment, quashed Pell’s convictions, stating that there was “a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted”.

He served 404 days in prison, much of it in solitary confinement. During that time, he prayed for and forgave his accuser, as well as writing his book Prison Journal.

Upon his release, he met Pope Francis in the Vatican, who thanked him for his testimony.

Renowned for his faithfulness to Catholic teaching, he was popular among conservative Catholics and was known as a close friend of American cardinal Raymond Burke.

Cardinal George Pell died in Rome a few days after Pope Benedict XVI, with whom he was a close collaborator, on 10 January 2023. He died from cardiac arrest following hip replacement surgery, aged 81. 

Fully exonerated of the crimes of which he had been accused, a Requiem Mass was celebrated at St Peter’s Basilica on 14 January by Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, with the final blessing and commendation given by Pope Francis. Pell’s Funeral Mass was celebrated at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney on 1 February, and he was buried in the cathedral’s crypt.

Vincent Robinson remains in good health, having made a full recovery. 

The post Family attributes toddler’s recovery after near-drowning to Cardinal Pell’s intercession first appeared on Catholic Herald.

The post Family attributes toddler’s recovery after near-drowning to Cardinal Pell’s intercession appeared first on Catholic Herald.