How Anthony Albanese’s late mother and the Pope led him back to the church

As Governor-General Sam Mostyn gets set to join world leaders at the Vatican to farewell the first South American pope, the Prime Minister for the first time opens up about his journey back to one of his ‘three’ faiths.

Anthony Albanese and dean of St Patricks Cathedral, Monsignor Stuart Hall, at the St Patricks Cathedral. Picture: Brendan Beckett

Anthony Albanese directly attributes his return to the Catholic Church and the beliefs of his mother to the “modernist” social justice position of Pope Francis.

As Governor-General Sam Mostyn gets set to join world leaders and hundreds of thousands of Catholics this Saturday at the Vatican to farewell the first South American pope, the Prime Minister for the first time has opened up about his journey back to one of his “three” faiths.

Mr Albanese – who was deeply affected by the death of Pope Francis shortly after his Easter Sunday appearance at the Vatican – believes the Pope was inspirational and one of the “most consequential figures of our century”.

Pope Francis at the Vatican on Easter Sunday, hours before he died. Picture: AP

“I think that Pope Francis was inspirational regarding his commitment to the poor, to social justice, to his humble way in which he conducted himself as the Pontiff,” Mr Albanese told The Australian. “And I think the Holy Father – I read many of his speeches – is one of the most consequential figures of our century,” he said. Mr Albanese said he thought of his late mother, a devout Catholic, when Pope Francis died because she would have loved him very much.

“You know that that message of kindness, compassion, looking after the poor and vulnerable is something that for me, is what faith is about,” he said.

Mr Albanese said Australia was a secular society and he did not seek making his return to Catholicism- “as a very flawed Catholic” – a public matter. But, referring to a story in The Australian last year revealing his return to the church and occasional attendance at mass at Canberra’s St Christopher’s Cathedral, he said it was now a public matter. Apart from the influence of his mother and the pursuit of social justice from Pope Francis, Mr Albanese said he felt a need to seek the quiet and peace of prayer in church.

When he went to school at St Mary’s Cathedral school in Sydney Mr Albanese’s fees were reduced to “what his mother could pay” and he would describe himself as a cultural Catholic with loyalty to the Church, the Labor Party and the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league team.

As a young student involved in left wing politics Mr Albanese moved away from the Catholic Church despite his devotion to his mother, an invalid pensioner who raised him on her own.

But, after becoming prime minister Mr Albanese felt the pressure and loneliness of being at the top and needed to find some peace.

Anthony Albanese with his mother Maryanne. Picture: X/Anthony Albanese

“I’m someone who has all eyes on them, I thought deeply about issues … I think that people’s faith and spirituality is something that is very personal for me, and I keep it that way,” he said. But he said: “I find that going to church in a life so busy, I find peace about it, and I find a connection there”.

Mr Albanese said Pope Francis’s behaviour, his modernism and commitment to social justice were a large part of his admiration for him. “He was a modernist, yes. And the church, like any other institution, has to change and evolve,” he said. “When he became the Pope – even his choosing of Francis, of Assisi – was a message about who he was, and for someone who was raised in the Catholic faith, and you know is very much a flawed Catholic, he was someone who I know my late mother, who I thought of the other night, very much she would have just loved him,” he said.

“I often on an issue will think, what would my mother think as a Labor loyalist, as someone who was working class and struggled to get by,” he said.

“That thought keeps me completely grounded,” he said.