Cardinal George Pell ‘a saint for our times’, says Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott says he’s confident George Pell’s ‘reputation will grow’ after the Cardinal died in Rome from complications following hip surgery.

Cardinal George Pell has died, aged 81.

Tony Abbott has described the late George Pell as a “saint for our times” and says he’s confident his “reputation will grow and grow”, after the Cardinal died in Rome from complications during hip surgery.

The former prime minister, a staunch Catholic who visited Cardinal Pell when he was in gaol in Melbourne, said his prison journals “should become a classic: a fine man wrestling with a cruel fate and trying to make sense of the unfairness of suffering”.

Tony Abbott departs after visiting Cardinal George Pell at his Melbourne prison in 2019. Source: 7News

Mr Abbott said Australia had lost a great son and the Catholic church had lost a great leader with his passing at age 81.

“The Cardinal was a committed defender of Catholic orthodoxy and a staunch advocate for the virtues of Western civilisation,” Mr Abbott said.

“As an ecclesiastical and cultural conservative, he attracted praise and blame from all the expected quarters. In fact, he was a very pastoral priest who well understood the human stain and was more than capable of empathising with sinners while still counselling against sin.

“His incarceration on charges that the High Court ultimately scathingly dismissed was a modern form of crucifixion: reputationally at least a kind of living death.”

The former Liberal leader reached out to Cardinal Pell after he was convicted of child sex abuse – a conviction that was ultimately overturned – and considered him a friend.

“In the end, like Julian of Norwich, (Cardinal Pell’s) conclusion in faith was that all would be well and all manner of things would be well,” Mr Abbott said.

“In his own way, by dealing so equably with a monstrous allegation, he strikes me as a saint for our times. Like everyone who knew him I feel a deep sense of loss but am confident that his reputation will grow and grow and that he will become an inspiration for the ages.”

Cardinal George Pell pictured after Sunday mass at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.

PM: Shock to many

Anthony Albanese said Cardinal George Pell’s death “will come as a shock to many” as he offered his condolences to those in mourning, particularly people of the Catholic faith.

The Prime Minister said he conveyed his government’s condolences to Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher earlier on Wednesday.

“This will come as a shock to many. This was a hip operation and the consequences of it, unfortunately, have been that Cardinal Pell has lost his life,” Mr Albanese said.

“For many people, particularly of the Catholic faith, this will be a difficult day and I express my condolences to all those who are mourning today.

“Archbishop Fisher informed me that there will be a service held in the Vatican in coming days but then there will be a service at St Mary ‘s Cathedral (in Sydney) at some time in the future.”

Mr Albanese said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade were providing assistance to ensure Cardinal Pell’s body was brought back to Australia, with further announcements to be made in due course.

Cardinal Pell will be buried in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, where he served as Archbishop for 13 years, once his body is returned to Australia following his Vatican funeral.

In a statement, the St Mary’s notified the community that a service would be held for the Eighth Archbishop of Sydney today at 1.10pm as leaders reflected on the Cardinal’s

The Mass will be livestreamed on the church’s YouTube Channel.

Howard: ‘Person of enormous influence’

John Howard says Australia and the Catholic Church have lost a “person of enormous influence” following the death of the late Cardinal George Pell.

The former prime minister, who said he “liked and respected” Cardinal Pell also declared he should never have faced child sexual assault charges.

Mr Howard was one of 10 people to provide a character reference for the Cardinal following his conviction.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Mr Howard said he often spent time with the “great sports lover” Cardinal Pell at the Sydney cricket test, discussing “all manner of issues”.

“His deep and compassionate faith sustained him during more than 400 days in prison for alleged crimes which many, me included, believed should never have been the subject of charges,” Mr Howard said.

“Cardinal Pell’s trust in Australia’s justice system was vindicated when the High Court of Australia unanimously quashed his conviction.

“The death of George Cardinal Pell in Rome has taken from us a person of enormous influence, not only in the Catholic Church, but in the nation more generally.

“He was a strong and determined religious leader. His episcopal motto was ‘be not afraid’. In the senior roles he held in the Church, he displayed consistent courage in expressing Christian views in the public space. Believers and non-believers alike were left in no doubt where George Pell stood on issues.

“His passing is a great loss to the intellectual and spiritual life of our country.”

Sudden cardiac arrest

The Cardinal was in the Salvator Mundi International Hospital for a hip replacement, came through the operation and was chatting with the anaesthetist when he went into sudden cardiac arrest.

A few days earlier he attended the funeral of his great friend, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

Despite the cardinal’s long history of heart disease, for which he received a pacemaker in Rome more than a decade ago, his death, from a cardiac arrest after a hip replacement operation in the Salvator Mundi hospital, was a shock.

He had recently been working in Rome, meeting groups of students from Australia and seminarians from the US, and only days before had attended the funeral of his treasured friend Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

In the lead up to the late Pope’s funeral he was also in demand for interviews from US, British and Australian media and was busy networking with brother cardinals who travelled to Rome for Benedict’s funeral.

He was the author of the obituary for Benedict published in this newspaper.

BREAKING | Cardinal George Pell has died after complications from a hip replacement surgery. He was 81 years old.

May he Rest in Peace 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/KfHjuurlpq

— EWTN Vatican (@EWTNVatican) January 10, 2023

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.

After his exoneration, the Cardinal set about rebuilding his life, both in Australia and Rome, suffering the loss of his beloved sister, Margaret, in December 2021. He is survived by his brother, David, his nieces and nephews and their children.

The Catholic community across Australia has shared messages of mourning following the death of Cardinal George Pell.

Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher has expressed his shock and sadness at Cardinal Pell’s death.

“It is with deep sadness that I can confirm His Eminence, Cardinal George Pell, passed away in Rome in the early hours of this morning,” he said in a statement.

“This news comes as a great shock to all of us. Please pray for the repose of the soul of Cardinal Pell, for comfort and consolation for his family and for all of those who loved him and are grieving him at this time.”

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli called Cardinal Pell a “very significant and influential church leader” who was deeply committed to his faith.

With great sadness, the news is out that Cardinal George Pell died a few hours ago, from heart complications following hip surgery. May eternal light now be his, who so steadfastly believed in the God of Jesus Christ.

— Archbishop Peter A Comensoli (@BishopComensoli) January 10, 2023

“It is with great sadness that I have learned that Cardinal George Pell, the seventh Archbishop of Melbourne, has died overnight from heart complications following hip surgery in Rome, Italy,” he said.

“Cardinal Pell led the local Church of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001 with strong leadership in the Catholic faith and with good governance, before being transferred to Sydney and then to Rome.”

Archbishop Comensoli said his thoughts and prayers were with the Cardinal’s family.

“At this immediate moment, let our prayers go out to the God of Jesus Christ, whom Cardinal Pell wholeheartedly believed in and followed, that he may be welcomed into eternal life,” he said.

“Our prayers of comfort and condolence are also with his family, especially his only surviving sibling David Pell.

“May eternal light shine upon him, and may he now rest in peace and rise to glory in the Lord.”

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe is calling on all “people of goodwill” to pray for Cardinal Pell.

“It was with great sadness that I learned of the unexpected death of Cardinal George Pell in Rome on Tuesday evening (Rome time). Cardinal Pell provided strong and clear leadership within the Catholic Church in Australia, as Archbishop of Melbourne and Archbishop of Sydney and as a member of the Bishops Conference for more than 25 years,” he wrote in a statement.

Archbishop Costelloe recognised the Cardinal for his talent and devotion, saying his impact will be “felt for many years”.

“His many strengths were widely recognised, both in Australia and around the world, as his Vatican appointments as Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy and as a member of the Council of Cardinals, an advisory group to Pope Francis, testify,” he said.

“As we remember him and reflect on his legacy, I invite all Catholics and other people of goodwill to join in praying for Cardinal Pell, a man of deep and abiding faith, and for the repose of his soul.”

The Dean of St Mary’s, Father Don Richardson, will offer a short tribute to Cardinal Pell before the usual 1pm mass in the Cathedral in Sydney. A formal tribute by Archbishop Anthony Fisher is due to be released by the Sydney Archdiocese later this afternoon.

Cardinal Pell became the eighth Archbishop of Sydney in 2001, after serving five years as the Archbishop of Melbourne.

He was appointed to the College of Cardinal in September 2003.

Pell ‘died an innocent man’: Merritt

The Australian’s Legal Affairs Contributor Chris Merritt says Cardinal George Pell died an innocent man despite the frenzied “lynch mob” which opposed him.

In 2017 Pell was charged and found guilty of historical child sex abuse but the conviction was later overturned by the bench of the High Court.

“Cardinal Pell died an innocent man,” Mr Merritt told Sky News Australia.

“This might come as a terrible shock to those who were gripped by the frenzy – particularly in Victoria – that effectively amounted to a lynch mob before his trial and unsuccessful appeal in the Victorian Court of Appeal.

“The fact that an old, sick man spent a long time in prison and was eventually shown by the highest court in the land to be innocent, it still, it ranks up there with Lindy Chamberlain, as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice we’ve ever seen in this country.”

Early life

Cardinal Pell was born in Ballarat in 1941, 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 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 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.