Status: 01/15/2023 02:01 a.m
Pope Francis read the funeral mass for the late Australian Cardinal Pell in St. Peter’s Basilica. The funeral service was overshadowed by new revelations about the controversial churchman.
The funeral mass for the late Australian Cardinal George Pell was celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Pope Francis spoke the last blessing for his former adviser – as usual for cardinals in Latin. The Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re celebrated the Mass in his capacity as Dean of the College of Cardinals. Pell died on January 10 at the age of 81 shortly after hip surgery in a hospital in Rome.
As the highest-ranking Catholic minister to date, George Pell was convicted of child molestation in his native Australia. In 2020, however, he was acquitted on appeal after serving around 13 months in prison and was released from prison. Pell was considered a close advisor to Pope Francis. In 2014, the pontiff appointed the Australian as prefect of the newly created economic secretariat of the Roman Curia – his official title as chief financial officer.
Pell sharply criticized Francis
Immediately after Pell’s death, it was revealed that the cardinal was the author of a document that had been known in the Vatican for months. In the text, the author criticized Francis’ pontificate as a “catastrophe”. In another article Pell reportedly wrote days before his death and was published by The Spectator magazine, he also condemned discussing issues such as Church doctrine on sexuality and the role of women with the involvement of lay Catholics as a “toxic nightmare “.
This week, the British magazine “The Spectator” also published an article written by Pell, in which the conservative churchman described the ongoing world synod as a “toxic nightmare”. The synod is one of Francis’ most important projects – the pope wants to make the Catholic Church fit for the future and has requested assessments and status reports from all countries. Pell was once considered a confidante of Francis. In December, the pope called his former chief financial officer a “great person” who we owe a lot.
Goose wine at funeral service
Among those attending the celebrations at St. Peter’s Basilica was another senior Vatican prelate who has been critical of Francis in recent days: German Archbishop Georg Gänswein. Like Pell, it is a staunch supporter of the more conservative faction of the church hierarchy and a longtime collaborator of Pope Benedict XVI. Gänswein complained in a book about how he was treated by Francis after Benedict retired in 2013 and Francis was elected his successor.