Cardinal Pell died: He was suspected of abuse for a long time – and was Francis' confidant

Created: 01/11/2023 10:26 am

Pope Francis and controversial Cardinal George Pell at a meeting in 2020.

© VATICAN MEDIA/CPP/IPA/www.imago-images.de

He was a close confidant of Francis - and highly controversial.

Australian Cardinal George Pell has died.

ROME/Canberra – Controversial Australian Cardinal George Pell has died in Rome at the age of 81.

The Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, confirmed his death on Facebook on Wednesday night.

Pell's former archbishopric confirmed the authenticity of the message to the dpa.

Pell died on Tuesday evening after complications from a long-planned hip operation, the Vatican's own media portal

reported .

The surgery had been planned for a long time.

Francis' "number three" died: he was still at Benedict's funeral service

He had Pell last week at the funeral service for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

hit, Fisher wrote in a statement.

"Little did the cardinal and I know that this would be the last time we would meet in this life."

For years, Pell was number three in the Vatican under Pope Francis – and the highest-ranking minister convicted of child molestation in the history of the Catholic Church.

However, in 2020, Pell was acquitted on appeal after serving around 13 months and released from prison.

Cardinal Pell dies: "Difficult day"

"For many people, especially Catholics, this will be a difficult day," said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday morning in the state of Queensland.

He offered his condolences to all the mourners and announced that the cardinal's body would be taken back to Australia after the funeral service at the Vatican.

There he should be buried in St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.

Albanese, who is a Catholic himself, initially gave no information on whether he would attend the funeral.

As a church and cultural conservative, Pell has drawn both praise and criticism, said former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

In fact, the cardinal was very caring, understood people's mistakes and was "more than capable" of empathizing with and counseling sinners.

The Australian opposition leader and leader of the Australian Liberal Party, Peter Dutton, has described the abuse allegations against Pell and his imprisonment as "political persecution".

Pope Francis in December called Pell a great man who is owed a lot.

Pell's successor in the Archdiocese of Sydney wrote on Wednesday that the news of the cardinal's death was "a great shock to everyone".

Many others, especially those outside the Catholic Church, are likely to remember the cardinal's deep fall.

Francis confidant Pell: Gone to choirboys?

The case for which Pell was being tried in his home country dates back to 1996/97, when Pell had just become Archbishop of Australia's second largest city, Melbourne.

After a service he is said to have passed on the two choirboys, who were 13 years old at the time.

The testimony of a former choirboy was instrumental in the verdict, which became public knowledge in early 2019.

Pell was initially sentenced to six years in prison.

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But Pell's defense attorneys argued that the former choirboy's testimony was insufficient to establish the cardinal's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

They also stated that after a Sunday mass it was impossible for an archbishop to be alone in the sacristy with two choirboys for five or six minutes - as it is said to have been during an assault.

Australia's highest court granted the appeal in April 2020 for lack of evidence.

After 13 months, Pell was surprisingly a free man again - and returned to the Vatican a few months after his release, in the middle of the corona pandemic and despite travel restrictions.

Church scandal in Australia: lawsuit against Pell should continue

Lawyers for the family of one of the former choirboys said they would pursue a civil suit against Pell after his death.

"A civil trial would likely have provided an opportunity to cross-examine Pell," the attorneys said in a statement.

The former choirboy died of a drug overdose in 2014, according to the AAP news agency.

Former head of the truth commission of the Catholic Church in Australia, Francis Sullivan, told ABC there was a split within the church.

Many of the archbishops and also Cardinal Pell are responsible for this.

Pell was born on June 8, 1941 in Ballarat, Australia.

He was ordained a priest in 1966 and elected auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Melbourne in 1987.

In the same year he received episcopal consecration.

He was Archbishop of Sydney from 2001 to 2014.

Even then, Pell was confronted with allegations of abuse - in 2002 he temporarily suspended his office as Archbishop of Sydney, but he rejected the allegations.

Although allegations against Pell persisted, he made a career for himself in the Catholic Church.

He later became a confidante of Pope Francis, who appointed him Prefect of the Economic Secretariat in 2014 to help shore up the Vatican's finances.

After Benedict's death, the Catholic Church is in any case caught in an unpleasant internal conflict.

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