Vatican City: The funeral rites of Australian Cardinal George Pell, who was convicted of trumped-up charges and finally acquitted by the court, will be held tomorrow (January 14) at the Vatican. Cardinal Giovanni Battista, Dean of the Order of Cardinals, will officiate at the Holy Mass offered at St. Peter’s Basilica at 11.30 am.
Pope Francis will officiate at the funeral service. Cardinals will be concelebrated at the Mass. After the services, the body will be flown to Australia for burial in the vault of St Mary’s Cathedral in the Archdiocese of Sydney, where he was Archbishop. The date is yet to be decided.
He passed away at the age of 81 on January 10 due to cardiac arrest due to complications related to hip replacement surgery. He was the presiding officer of the Melbourne and Sydney archdiocese and was the most prominent pastor in the Australian Church. From 2014 to 2017, he was the chairman of the Vatican’s financial affairs department.
In his message of condolence, the Pope thanked Cardinal Pell for his life’s witness of commitment and honesty and his dedication to the Gospel and the Church. The Pope also recalled how Cardinal Pell faithfully followed the Lord during life’s trials and with endurance.
In 1996, while serving as Archbishop of Melbourne, he was accused of sexually abusing two altar boys. Following this, in December 2018, the lower court sentenced him to six years in prison. Cardinal was acquitted in April 2020 by the Full Bench of the High Court ruling that the charges were baseless after almost a year (13 months) of his jail sentence.