Tons of of mourners have gathered at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne to pay their respects to Cardinal George Pell.
The cardinal was laid to relaxation in Sydney on Thursday, nearly a month after he died in Rome on the age of 81.
Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli, who presided over Friday evening’s Requiem Mass, described Cardinal Pell as a fantastic defender of the religion and a humble and trustworthy servant of God.
Earlier than the service, a small contingent of protesters tied colourful ribbons to the cathedral’s gates in assist of those that had been sexually abused by members of the clergy.
“There are various individuals who have dedicated suicide, many people who find themselves too previous or frail or too scared to return right here,” Brian Cherrie, a type of tying ribbons, informed AAP.
“It is necessary we keep in mind them.”
One of many mourners who attended the service stated it was the suitable factor to do.
“You at all times go to a Mass for somebody who has died,” the person, who didn’t need to be named, informed AAP.
‘There’s an evil within the church’
“There’s evil within the church however there wasn’t evil in Cardinal Pell. He tried to do the precise factor for folks.”
Cardinal Pell was the Vatican’s prime finance minister earlier than leaving Rome in 2017 to face trial in Melbourne for baby sexual abuse offences.
The next yr, he was convicted of concurrently molesting two teenage choirboys within the vestry of Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral whereas archbishop in 1996.
Nevertheless, he maintained his innocence and in 2020 his convictions had been quashed by the Excessive Courtroom.
The cardinal additionally appeared earlier than a Victorian parliamentary inquiry in 2013, the place he acknowledged the church had coated up baby abuse and typically positioned clergymen above the regulation.
‘Advanced and troublesome years’
Throughout Friday evening’s Mass, Cardinal Pell’s time earlier than the courts and his 404 days in custody had been described as his “advanced and troublesome years”.
“As together with his entire life, he remained steadfast in his religion, trusting in God and sustained by prayer, his household and his buddies,” Monsignor Charles Portelli informed the service.
Archbishop Comensoli as an alternative spoke about Cardinal Pell’s generosity, sharing how he would usually spend time with the poor and marginalized with none fanfare or notoriety.
“Most of these there wouldn’t have had a clue that he was a cardinal archbishop of some worldwide renown,” the archbishop informed the Mass.
“They knew him merely as a kind-hearted priest who got here every now and then to be with them in Christian fellowship.”
The Melbourne Mass comes after an analogous service was held within the Vatican final month.
Cardinal Pell was buried within the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney after Thursday’s funeral.
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