Cardinal George Pell dead at 81
Pope Francis praised the “perseverance” in the “hour of trial” of Cardinal George Pell, who was jailed while defending allegations of child abuse.
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Pope Francis praised Cardinal George Pell for “unwavering” faith in the “hour of trial”, referencing the former Archbishop’s time in jail before being acquitted of unproven child sex allegations.
Following the Cardinal’s death at the age of 81, Pope Francis released a telegram praising him as a “consistent and committed witness”.
“I raise prayers of suffrage so that this faithful servant, who unwaveringly followed his Lord with perseverance even in the hour of trial, may be received into the joy of heaven and receive the reward of eternal peace,” the Pope said.
Pell died in Rome following complications from hip surgery, the Vatican confirmed. He was reported to have gone into a sudden cardiac arrest while chatting with medical staff.
The former Archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne was the most senior Australian to serve in the Catholic Church and was a close adviser to Pope Francis, who praised his work in the Vatican before his death.
“His dedication to the Gospel and to the Church, and particularly his diligent co-operation with the Holy See in its recent economic reform, for which he laid the foundations with determination and wisdom,” Pope Francis said.
Pell was appointed as the head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, spearheading a financial corruption investigation into the Holy See.
The high praise for the polarising figure came in the Pope’s telegram of condolences, addressed to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Dean of the College of Cardinals.
He offered his prayers and sympathy to the Australian prelate’s family.
“I offer sentiments of heartfelt condolence,” the Pope said in the message, “remembering with a grateful heart his consistent and committed witness.”
Pell’s body will be returned to Australia following services in the Vatican, according to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who offered his condolences to those grieving his death.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton joined the tributes to the Cardinal, calling him a “man of immense erudition and faith” that endured injustice over “political persecution”.
“Our nation has lost an important intellectual figure and a towering presence in the Catholic community,” Mr Dutton said in a statement.
“On his passing, the fact he spent a year in prison for a conviction that the High Court of Australia unanimously quashed should provide some cause for reflection for the Victorian Labor Government and its institutions that led this modern-day political persecution.
“Pell never lost faith in his God, his country, and in justice – despite the tests and trials he endured in life.”
CARDINAL GEORGE PELL DEAD AT
Cardinal George Pell, the former Catholic Archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne, has died aged 81.
The Vatican confirmed he died in Rome after complications from hip surgery. Reports suggested he was chatting with the anaesthetist after the operation when he went into sudden cardiac arrest.
It was not the first time Pell had experienced heart issues; he had worn a pacemaker since February 2010.
The most senior Australian to ever serve the Catholic Church, Pell was a polarising figure who served time in jail between 2019 and 2020 for historic sex offences against two underage boys. He was freed in April 2020 after a successful appeal to the High Court.
His jailing divided opinion in Australian society like few other issues. Survivors of sexual abuse within the church applauded, but conservative supporters such as former Prime Minister Tony Abbott argued Pell had been unfairly targeted by sections of the media and unjustly convicted.
Anthony Albanese has confirmed Cardinal Pell’s body will be brought back to Australia from Rome.
The Prime Minister shared his condolences with people grieving Cardinal Pell’s death.
He confirmed services would be held at the Vatican in Rome, where the Cardinal died, with a commemoration to be held at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral at a later date.
“For many people, particularly of the Catholic faith, this will be a difficult day, and I’ll express my condolences to all those who are mourning today,” he said.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing assistance to ensure that Cardinal Pell is brought back to Australia and those arrangements are being put in place and further announcements will be made when they are finalised.”
Pell’s brother David told the Herald Sun said he was “terribly saddened” by the death, and his brother had been unfairly maligned by many critics of his church. “I don’t think he deserved what he got. He was better appreciated overseas than he was here, particularly in Melbourne.”
EWTN News Vatican correspondent Colm Flynn spoke to Pell a few days ago.
Mr Flynn said Cardinal Pell mentioned the surgery and joked that he was “suffering in silence”.
“He was in good form, he was lively,” he told 3AW.
“This has come as a surprise for me … and everyone who knew him around the Vatican.”
The Cardinal was heavily criticised for actions which protected paedophile priests, including the notorious sex abuser Gerald Ridsdale, and his apparent insensitivity to the needs of sexual abuse survivors.
Known for his staunchly conservative views on social issues, and for being a climate change sceptic, Pell gained national attention while he was Archbishop of Melbourne for refusing to serve communion – Catholicism’s most holy sacrament – to parishioners who wore a rainbow sash in support of homosexual Catholics.
Pell was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2005.
His death comes less that a fortnight after that of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whom Pell had described as a “”quiet, gentle, pious man” and the complete opposite of the “God’s Rottweiler” image with which he had been tarnished.
The last photographs of Pell were of him mourning the late Pope in the Vatican. He later attended the funeral.
Shine Lawyers chief legal officer Lisa Flynn said a civil claim would continue despite Cardinal Pell’s death.
A father launched legal action against the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and Cardinal Pell claiming he suffered psychological harm upon learning of the alleged abuse against his son, former choir boy at St Patrick’s Cathedral.
“The claim will continue against the church and whatever estate Pell has left behind,” Ms Flynn said in a statement.
“A civil trial likely would have provided the opportunity to cross examine Pell, and truly test his defence against these allegations.
“There is still a great deal of evidence for this claim to rely on, and the court will be asked in due course to make its ruling on that evidence,” she said.
TRIBUTES FROM PELL’S SUPPORTERS
Former Treasurer Joe Hockey said he was “immensely saddened” by Pell’s death.
“He was a man of deep faith and great integrity. He was blessed with fortitude, courage, determination and intellect. He was proudly Australian,” Mr Hockey tweeted.
The current Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, tweeted with “great sadness” about Pell’s death. “May eternal light now be his, who so steadfastly believed in the God of Jesus Christ,” the Archbishop wrote.
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott tweeted a statement, labelling Pell a “great leader” and saying Australia lost a “great son”.
Many on social media cautioned that news of Pell’s death could be a triggering event for survivors of sexual abuse within the church.
EARLY LIFE
A wartime baby, Pell was born on June 8, 1941 in Ballarat, the second and youngest child to an Anglican father, who was also a heavyweight boxer, and a devout Irish Catholic mother.
He was schooled at St Patrick’s College and Corpus Christi College in Victoria before his ordination as a priest at the age of 25 in 1966.
He studied at Urban University in Rome and gained a PhD in church history from Oxford University in the UK. Later he would earn a masters degree in education from Monash University.
Through the 1970s and 1980s he served in a number of rural Victorian parishes, including Swan Hill and Ballarat.
He was made Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne in 1987, before being appointed the seventh Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996. It was in these years that Pell really came to national prominence for his strictly traditional views on church teaching.
He was made the eighth Archbishop of Sydney in 2001, and appointed to the College of Cardinals by then Pope John Paul II in 2003.
In 2013 he helped elect Pope Francis, and in 2014 he became Secretariat of the Economy, regarded as the third highest position in the Vatican hierarchy, and the highest position ever held by an Australian. He was also appointed to the Council of Cardinal Advisers.
1990s: FIRST WAVE OF ACCUSATIONS
Pell’s elevation to the Archbishopry of Melbourne in 1996 occurred as the Catholic Church around the world started to be held to account for the at times rampant abuse of minors by members of the clergy.
In 1993 Pell was seen walking paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to court. Ridsdale was later convicted of sexual abuse and indecent assault charges against 65 children, some as young as four.
Pell testified before a hearing, denying any knowledge of Ridsdale’s crimes against children, even though they had shared a house together in the 1970s.
Giving evidence to the child sexual abuse Royal Commission in Rome in 2016, Pell admitted to “catastrophic failures” by the Catholic Church in relation to child sexual abuse. Pell told the Royal Commission that it was an issue that had been on his radar since the 1970s in his third appearance.
2016 AND BEYOND: ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
Allegations against Pell himself were first aired on the ABC’s 7.30 program in July 2016, after investigations by a Victoria Police task force. The Cardinal was later interviewed in Rome.
The following May, an explosive book by ABC journalist Louise Milligan, Cardinal: The Rise And Fall of George Pell, contained new allegations of sexual abuse against Pell.
He was charged in June 2017, always protesting his innocence, and returned to Australia in July for his first day at Melbourne Magistrates Court.
He faced claims of sexual offending at a swimming pool in the 1970s in country Victoria, and
against choristers at St Patrick’s Cathedral after being appointed Archbishop of Melbourne.
During the committal, Pell’s barrister Robert Richter QC said the Cardinal “had been the obvious target of allegations that are not true but are designed to punish him, almost, for not having prevented sexual abuse for many years.”
In May 2018 the trial was subject to a blanket ban on reporting, with Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions seeking to prevent the potential risk of prejudice.
The suppression order was granted, with the media forced to go silent on the ‘trial of the century’ against the world’s third most powerful Catholic.
Pell was found guilty on five counts of child sexual abuse in February 2019 – an outcome that former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, an ardent supporter, describe as “a shocking result, a devastating result”.
The conviction was quashed after Pell had served 13 months of his sentence. He returned to the Vatican in September 2020.
In November 2021 Pell told a meeting of Catholic medical professionals in the US that the suffering he experienced while in prison only deepened his faith.
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Originally published as Cardinal George Pell dead at 81
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