Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has ruled out a state funeral or memorial service for Vatican leader Cardinal George Pell saying it would be “distressing” for survivors of sexual abuse.
Pell, formerly the archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, died from heart complications in Rome on Jan. 10 following hip replacement surgery.
The 81-year-old gained notoriety in Australia after standing trial and being found guilty in 2017-18 for the alleged sexual abuse of two teenage choirboys in 1996. This verdict was later overturned by the country’s peak judicial body.
Premier Andrews said state funerals were normally offered to families, and in this case, there would be no offer from his government.
“I couldn’t think of anything that would be more distressing for victim-survivors than that,” he told reporters on Jan. 12.
“We should never ever forget that predator brothers and priests were systematically moved around knowingly. It was part of a strategy from one working-class parish to the next.”
His comments also come after federal Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton said the Andrews’ government needed to reflect on the state’s treatment of Pell—the cardinal was initially tried and found guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
“Pell never lost faith in his God, his country, and in justice—despite the tests and trials he endured in life.”
In response, premier Andrews said he “wouldn’t dignify those comments with a response.”
A Divisive Legacy
Cardinal Pell was accused and convicted of molesting two teenage choirboys at St. Patrick’s Cathedral during his time as Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996.The conviction was later overturned and quashed by all seven justices of the High Court of Australia, who found the Victorian courts did not entertain “reasonable doubt” on the veracity of 23 witness testimonies.
Pell spent 13 months behind bars and returned to Rome. He maintained his innocence throughout the ordeal.
The cardinal has received praise from former Prime Ministers Tony Abbott and John Howard.
“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.
Pell’s Role Auditing the Vatican and Opposing Marxism
Before his trial, he was appointed by the Pope in 2014 to the role of cardinal prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy—in charge of the Vatican’s finances and the third-highest office in the Catholic Church.The current Synod produced a 45-page booklet that Pell called a “toxic nightmare.”
He wrote that Catholics largely did not endorse the findings of the Synod.
“Continued meetings of this sort deepen divisions, and a knowing few can exploit the muddle and goodwill,” he said.
“The ex-Anglicans among us are right to identify the deepening confusion, the attack on traditional morals, and the insertion into the dialogue of neo-Marxist jargon about exclusion, alienation, identity, marginalisation, the voiceless, LGBTQ as well as the displacement of Christian notions of forgiveness, sin, sacrifice, healing, redemption.”
