Cardinal George Pell has died in Rome at the age of 81 after complications from hip replacement surgery, the Vatican has confirmed.
The Cardinal is reported to have successfully undergone the operation and was chatting with his anaesthetist when he went into sudden cardiac arrest.
Medics were unable to revive him.
His death comes just days after he attended the funeral of Pope Benedict in Rome last week.
He was ordained a priest in 1966, became a bishop in 1987,