Pope Francis joins rites at funeral for Cardinal George Pell
Cardinal George Pell, who delivered a withering criticism of Pope Francis’s leadership, has been blessed during his funeral in the Vatican.
Cardinal George Pell, who had delivered a withering criticism of Pope Francis’s leadership being a “catastrophe” was on Saturday blessed by the Pope during his funeral inside St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
Pope Francis, 86, looking increasingly frail, was wheeled in his wheelchair and assisted to stand before Cardinal Pell’s coffin at the very end of the service where he commended, in Latin, the soul of Cardinal Pell into God’s hands in a prayer for mercy and eternal rest.
The Pope blessed the coffin and then as he was wheeled past, Francis touched his own forehead and face.
Several priests and nuns appeared upset, and gave silent prayers. The congregation then spontaneously broke into a round of loud applause.
Cardinal Pell’s cousin, and chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Chris Meney, attended with his Cardinal Pell’s brother David, with several other family members for the 90-minute service, in the same church Cardinal Pell was ordained more than half a century ago.
Mr Meney said: “It was beautiful to see so many fellow bishops and cardinals come out, to show their support of him”. He added since Cardinal Pell died last Tuesday, aged 81, having undergone surgery for a troublesome hip, it had been a surreal time.
“He’s such a strong presence,” Mr Meney said of Cardinal Pell, adding: “I think it’s sometimes difficult for people to believe he’s actually gone.”
He said it was “a great thing” for the Pope to have attended because of the Pope’s own health issues making it “not easy” .
As in life, Cardinal Pell was divisive from the grave, with his strident criticism of the directions of the Catholic Church being released in the days after his death. Yet Cardinal Pell’s conservative views were strongly supported within the Vatican and the service was overflowing with mourners, with extra chairs being brought in.
Mr Meney said there was an exuberance reflecting how people had felt about Cardinal Pell and what he’s done for so many in different ways, not just in the church.
“He has always been a contributor and people have really appreciated that,’’ he said.
Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Perth, Tim Costelloe, said the service was “one for the Cardinals”, describing it as “very simple, dignified, quite beautiful”.
Archbishop Costelloe said the final farewell for Cardinal Pell at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney will be “for one of ours” with “a similar kind of dignity”.
The service will be held in early February to allow time for the coffin to be transported from the Vatican.
He acknowledged that Cardinal Pell’s funeral in Sydney will “raise some questions’’ in peoples minds.
The Archbishop said: “The whole sexual abuse issue that we’ve had to face in the church, sadly, will come up again for many people. So that will inevitably be in people’s minds. I think one of the important things at the moment, is that we’re conscious of that. Whatever we say and whatever we do as we reflect on the Cardinal, we’re sensitive to people who are struggling.’’
Archbishop Costelloe was unsure if there will be protests because “funerals are a particular moment when we pray for someone that will be received into the Lord’s Kingdom that the Lord will forgive that person his or her sins. As part of our tradition. That’s what this morning was. And I hope that that will be the focus in Sydney as well.”
The Vatican service was conducted by the Italian cardinal Giovanni Baptista Re, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, who spoke of Cardinal Pell’s power and strength and that the last few years of his life were marked by “an unjust and painful condemnation”.
He detailed Cardinal Pell’s 400 days in maximum security prison including some times of solitary confinement.
“His was an experience of great suffering endured with confidence in God’s judgment,” Cardinal Re said.
He said that Cardinal Pell was a “man of God and man of the Church characterised by a deep faith and great steadfastness of doctrine, which he always defended without hesitation and with courage, concerned only with being faithful to Christ”.
He added: “As he noted many times, the weakening of faith in the Western world and the moral crisis of the family grieved him”.
After the service Cardinal Pell’s personal secretary Father Joseph Hamilton showed The Australian the zinc encased scroll of Cardinal Pell’s life which will be placed inside his coffin in the crypt at St Mary’s.
Father Joseph said “in 500 years time you open this up” to read Cardinal Pell’s entire life story, including the trial and what happened during his time in prison. It will be sealed by the Holy See and then sealed again with Cardinal Pell’s seal.
One of the Vatican mourners was Broken Bay director of Catholic schools Danny Casey, who worked with Cardinal Pell at the Archdiocese of Sydney and in the Vatican to implement the economic reforms after the Cardinal was called to Rome by Francis in 2014.
“I think one of the great things that Cardinal Pell did was that we got eyes on the size and scale of the (financial) problem,’’ he said.
“For the first time we actually had all the entities on the books. We started repairing Vatican budgeting, so we can actually forecast expenditure and that’s how we came to understand just the extent of the deficits that were being incurred.”
The head of the Vatican Bank, John Baptiste de Franssu, who also attended the funeral, said he accepted chairmanship of the bank because he knew Cardinal Pell would ‘’push things in the right direction and that’s exactly what he did”.
He added: “So much of the work that we did was really based on the strength of the Cardinal Pell, a lot of people were uncompromising. He was a very good man, a man full of mercy. “Now, of course, he had strong views, and maybe one would not always agree with all these views and even personally, sometimes I may not agree. But he was always there when we needed him. And he was a very strong man. Always ready to help.”
Also in the congregation was the man Cardinal Pell had long believed fuelled sex abuse fury in Australia with two mystery payments, Cardinal Angelo Becciu.
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Cardinal George Pell's funeral Mass beginning now. Pell's brother, David, is seated near the front.
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