Pell a saint for our times, Abbott says

Tony Abbott was applauded loudly by mourners inside and outside St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney on Thursday as he spoke during the funeral Mass for the late Cardinal George Pell. This is a transcript of his speech.

“This funeral is less a sad farewell to a great friend and more a joyous tribute to a great hero. It’s the celebration of a wonderful life, a once-in-a-generation gathering of the people of faith to rededicate ourselves to the ideals George Pell lived for and to draw strength from each other for the struggles ahead.

Tony Abbott speaks at George Pell’s funeral.Credit: Nine

“He was a priest, a bishop and the prefect of a Vatican Secretariat. But he was never a mere functionary. In each of these roles – a thinker, a leader, a Christian warrior and a proud Australian who wanted our country and our civilisation to succeed. In the pulpit, from the lectern, on TV, in the opinion pages, across the dinner table, after Mass or in confession, as everyone here would know.

“He was always thoughtful, often charismatic, occasionally imperious, constantly concerned for the wellbeing of others, and a pastoral priest who could find an echo of Christ, even in the worst sinner.

“In short, he’s the greatest Catholic Australia has produced and one of our country’s greatest sons. No one else has been both Archbishop of Melbourne and Archbishop of Sydney. No other Australian has been as senior in the leadership of the Roman Church, or as influential in its conclaves.

“He was instrumental in the foundation of three centres of higher learning: the Australian Catholic University, the University of Notre Dame here in Australia, and Campion College – perhaps his favourite – named for the Jesuit martyr, our first liberal arts school, dedicated to giving students a good grounding in the great books and the great debates that have shaped our civilisation and made it man’s finest social and cultural achievement so far.

Former PM Tony Abbott outside St Mary’s Cathedral following the funeral. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“And far from being an apologist, or a dissembler about the sins of the church, personal, financial or intellectual, he was their hammer, as he knew – Ecclesia semper reformanda – the church is always in need of reform.

“And here, in Australia, he was the first archbishop to sack misbehaving clergy and report them to the police, rather than hide them in another parish.

“In Rome, he tried to ensure that the collections from the faithful were used for the glory of God, rather than the indulgence of the higher clergy.

“And most recently, he called a draft Vatican document, further eroding the apostolic tradition, a ‘toxic nightmare’.

“He was never one to mince his words. To the smug, to the venal, to the lazy, to the wayward, and to the intellectually sloppy, he was an existential reproach. And because that’s all of us, in some way, it’s hardly surprising that he became a target. For all his presence and his natural authority, he was personally humble.

“And he never fell for the modern conceit that he was bigger than that which had shaped him, faith, church and country.

“In his celebrated eulogy for another Catholic hero, B.A. Santamaria, he declared that it was ‘the mark of the false prophet, that all men speak well of him’, before observing that Bob [Santamaria] had triumphantly avoided this fate.

“And so it was even more with the cardinal himself.

“His recent observation that the climate change movement, quote, ‘had some of the characteristics of a low-level, not too demanding pseudo-religion’ was the kind of comment that enraged its adherents precisely because it was true.

“And throughout history, that’s what people have been martyred for – for telling the unpopular, unpalatable truth.

“And it’s not possible to honour the cardinal without some reference to his persecution. He was made a scapegoat for the church itself. He should never have been investigated in the absence of a complaint.

“He should never have been charged in the absence of corroborating evidence, and he should never have been convicted in the absence of a plausible case, as the High Court so resoundingly made plain.

“But had he died in jail, without the High Court’s vindication, this today would have been a very different event, even though his innocence would have been no less, had it been known only to God.

“Still, the presence of so many here from all walks and stations of life, many not Catholic, some not Christian, a few without any religious faith at all, is an overdue tribute and perhaps an admission that we should strive to do right in death to those who have been wronged in life.

“His greatest triumph in fact, was not to have held the highest ecclesiastical offices of any Australian but to have kept his faith in circumstances which must have screamed, ‘My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ Not to succumb to anger, self-pity, or despair, when almost any other human would, and instead to have accepted this modern-day crucifixion, walking humbly in the footsteps of our Lord.

“That’s the heroic virtue that makes him, to my mind, a saint for our times.

“And as I heard the chant [from protesters outside the church], ‘Cardinal Pell should go to hell’, I thought, ‘Aha! At least, they now believe in the afterlife.’

“Perhaps this is St George Pell’s first miracle.

“Indeed, the ultimately triumphant life of this soldier for truth, who advanced through smear and doubt to victory should drive a renewal of confidence throughout the universal church.

“If character means to trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too; if it means bearing to hear the truth you’ve spoken, twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, George Pell was the greatest man I’ve ever known.

“And if faith means the ability to endure crushing adversity, no one could be a better advertisement for it, especially with those of us for whom it often remains tantalisingly out of reach.

“As [it says in the Gospel], ‘Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.’

“So I will hold on to him in my heart, from love of a friend and mentor, and as a gentle child for virtues sought but not yet attained.

“And in these times, when it’s more needful than ever, to fight the good fight, to stay the course and to keep the faith, it’s surely now for the Australian church to trumpet the cause of its greatest champion.

“There should be Pell study courses, Pell spirituality courses, Pell lectures, Pell high schools, and Pell university colleges. Just as there are for the other saints.

“If we can direct our prayers to Mother Teresa, Thomas Becket and St Augustine, why not the late Cardinal too, who has been just as pleasing to God, I’m sure, and has the added virtue of being the very best of us?

“May God bless him.”

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Note: Cardinal George Pell was the Vatican’s top finance minister before leaving Rome in 2017 to stand trial in Melbourne on child sexual abuse offences.

He was convicted the following year of molesting two teenage choirboys in the sacristy of Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral while archbishop in 1996.

Pell maintained his innocence and in 2020 his convictions were quashed by the High Court.

The December 2017 findings of the royal commission stated Pell was “conscious of child sexual abuse by clergy” as early as 1973 and failed to act on complaints about priests.

He told the royal commission he was deceived in “a world of crimes and cover-ups” and did not know about the abuse. The commission found that was implausible.

Pell accused the commission of making findings “not supported by evidence”.

With Megan Gorrey

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