SYDNEY (OSV News) — The Catholic Church in Sydney bid farewell to its former archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, in a funeral at times solemn, reverent, defiant and sorrowful, shot through with wry Australian humor, and attended by mourners from all walks of life.

The cardinal remained a sign of contradiction until the very end, with protesters’ shouts of “George Pell, go to Hell” clearly audible inside St. Mary’s Cathedral at several points, and the congregation bursting into spontaneous applause and shouts of “hear, hear” during the homily and eulogies.

After the Feb. 2 Pontifical Mass of Christian Burial at St. Mary’s, the cardinal’s remains were interred in the cathedral crypt alongside his predecessors.

In his homily, Archbishop Anthony Fisher, Cardinal Pell’s successor as archbishop of Sydney, described the cardinal as a “lion of the church” — a “giant of a man with a big vision,” who proclaimed the Gospel “shamelessly, vehemently, courageously to the end.”

“He had a big heart, too, strong enough to fight for the faith and endure persecution, but soft enough to care for priests, youth, the homeless, prisoners and imperfect Christians,” Archbishop Fisher said.

“Ultimately that heart gave out, but only after more than 80 years of being gradually conformed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

Cardinal Pell’s brother, David Pell, gave the principal eulogy, describing him as “a prince of the church, a good and holy man, and a proud Australian.”

Pell told mourners about the toll “the relentless campaign to smear George’s life” had taken on his family, and spoke for a final time in his brother’s defense, saying his “regularly reported lack of sympathy for victims is simply untrue.”

“We sympathize with the legitimate victims and are in complete abhorrence at the criminals. Our own family has not been immune to this evil,” he said.

Cardinal Pell, died unexpectedly Jan. 10 in Rome at age 81 due to complications from hip replacement surgery. On Jan. 14, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, celebrated the Requiem Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican with Pope Francis present.

In 2018, Cardinal Pell was convicted on five counts related to the abuse of two choir boys. However, the Australian High Court overturned that conviction, concluding there was “a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof.”

Pell spoke at length about his brother’s 404 days of solitary confinement and eventual acquittal, praising both the guards and prisoners at Barwon Prison for the humane and dignified way they treated his brother.

He emphasized that his brother was a “friend of Pope Francis” and had been given a warm welcome and an entourage of Swiss Guards by the pope upon his return to Rome.

“A current Australian bishop, when discussing George with the Holy Father, was prodded in the chest by the pope, who said: ‘He’s an honest man,'” Pell said.

The service lasted nearly four hours, ample time for the Lay Clerks of St. Mary’s to perform a fine musical setting selected with particular regard for Cardinal Pell’s support of sacred music.

Esteemed Catholic composer Sir James MacMillan composed an offertory motet especially for the cardinal’s funeral, based on the text of Wisdom 3:1-4 and the cardinal’s motto, “Be not afraid.”

The long service and sweltering Sydney summer heat and humidity did little to deter mourners and supporters of the cardinal, who filled St. Mary’s to capacity, with around 2,000 braving the heat in the courtyard in front of the cathedral from as early as 7:30 a.m. to try to score a seat inside.

Some 30 bishops, 220 priests and dozens of seminarians were in attendance, including Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference; Archbishop Charles Balvo, apostolic nuncio to Australia; Jesuit Father Frank Brennan, one of the cardinal’s staunchest public advocates during his ordeal; and Father Joseph Hamilton, the cardinal’s most recent secretary.

The cardinal’s brother David and his wife, Judith, were accompanied by their children and grandchildren, relatives and friends.

In scenes not seen in Australia since the 2008 World Youth Day in Sydney, priests and bishops left the cathedral to distribute Communion to thousands of Catholics from all walks of who filled the cathedral courtyard.

The congregation included dozens of women religious from the Sisters of Charity, Dominicans, Sisters of Mercy and other orders supported by the cardinal; men and women from David’s Place, a Sydney-based community for homeless and marginalized people; leading theologians, educators and heads of Catholic agencies; young families and expectant mothers; Indigenous Australians, Catholics of Irish and English stock; and recent migrants from the Lebanese, Pacific Islander, Vietnamese and other communities that have become the backbone of the Sydney church.

The prime minister,  the New South Wales premier, the opposition leader and governor — all Catholics — were unable to attend, and sent members of Parliament well-known to the church as representatives in their stead.

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott attended to bid the cardinal farewell in person.

In his own eulogy to his friend, mentor and spiritual father, Abbott called Cardinal Pell “the greatest Catholic Australia has ever produced, and one of our country’s greatest sons.”

He said the cardinal was made a scapegoat for the church and should never have been investigated, let alone convicted.

“Had he died in jail, without the High Court’s vindication, this — today — would have been a very different event, even though his innocence would have been no less, had it been known only to God,” he said.

Abbott also called the cardinal “a saint for our times” and joked that he was already working miracles.

“As I heard the chant ‘Cardinal Pell should go to Hell,’ I thought, ‘Ah ha! At least they now believe in the afterlife!’ Perhaps this is St. George Pell’s first miracle,” Abbott said.

Despite widespread negative media coverage and a tense atmosphere in the lead-up to the service, the planned protest did not disrupt proceedings.

A small but vocal group of protesters clashed with mourners outside the cathedral, with police stepping in to calm the crowd.

About 150 people protested the church’s views on LGBT rights and response to the child abuse crisis.

Around four or five mourners became enraged by the protesters, with police coming between the two groups.

Only one arrest was made: a man carrying a rainbow umbrella who was inciting the faithful.

Catholics traveled from around Australia to pay tribute to the cardinal, share memories and reflect on the church.

Father James Kerr, parish priest of Holy Family in Northeast Mallee in the state of Victoria — which includes Swan Hill where the young Father George Pell was assigned after ordination — told The Catholic Weekly, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Sydney, he was glad to represent the parish where the cardinal is still remembered by many older parishioners.

“He came there as an assistant priest just after he finished his studies and they’ve got fond memories of him playing tennis and things,” Father Kerr said.

“Personally, like many other young priests I remember when I was at school looking up to this figure who was ready to speak for what we believe. He was a big influence on me.”

Father Conor Power traveled from the Brisbane Oratory to attend the funeral, describing the cardinal as “a courageous man who influenced many people.”

“My faith came alive at World Youth Day here in 2008. And Cardinal Pell was responsible for that,” Father Power said. “So many, myself included, were confident that they saw and met a man who was fearless in his love of Christ. He shared that love in ways that made a huge impression on me and my friends.”

Marabel Escamilla said she had been at the cathedral since 9 a.m.

“It was beautiful to see the support of so many people at the cathedral. We were just praying rosary after rosary as we waited in the queue to get in,” she said.

Marija Kovac was part of a group who had met to pray the rosary in the cathedral courtyard before the Mass at 10 a.m.

“We’ve come to pay our respects to our great cardinal, great leader of our church here in Australia. Great defender of the faith,” she said. “It’s overwhelming to be here. It’s a big part of Australian Catholic history and I feel blessed to be here.”

– – –

Adam Wesselinoff, Debbie Cramsie and Marilyn Rodrigues are writers for The Catholic Weekly, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Sydney.

(Photo: The crowd arrives for the funeral Mass of Australian Cardinal George Pell at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney Feb. 2, 2023. Cardinal Pell, former prefect of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, died Jan. 10 in Rome at the age of 81. (OSV News photo/Giovanni Portelli, The Catholic Weekly))

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But in interviews he always was respectful of Pope Francis and argued repeatedly over the past 10 years that Catholics should not be attacking each other in the media, but calmly discussing their differences with each other.

Shortly after Cardinal Pell’s death, Damian Thompson, associate editor of the British magazine The Spectator, published what he said was a recent submission to the magazine by Cardinal Pell criticising the current process for the Synod of Bishops as “a toxic nightmare”.

Cardinal Pell’s secretary, Father Joseph Hamilton, confirmed Cardinal Pell wrote the article for The Spectator.

The article took particular aim at the working document for the synod’s continental stage. Titled “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent”, it attempted to present the most common hopes, dreams and concerns raised by Catholics in the local and national listening sessions. It was to be the basis of regional discussions being held from December to March.

In The Spectator article, Cardinal Pell described it as “this potpourri, this outpouring of New Age good will”.

“It is not a summary of Catholic faith or New Testament teaching,” he said. “It is incomplete, hostile in significant ways to the apostolic tradition and nowhere acknowledges the New Testament as the Word of God, normative for all teaching on faith and morals. The Old Testament is ignored, patriarchy rejected and the Mosaic Law, including the Ten Commandments, is not acknowledged.”

Also, an Italian blogger Sandro Magister, claimed on January 11 that Cardinal Pell was the author of a “A Memorandum on the Next Conclave”, which Magister published on his blog in March last year under the pseudonym “Demos”. Among other things, the piece was critical of Pope Francis’ pontificate.

In a September 2021 interview streamed live and uploaded by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Cardinal Pell had said Pope Francis has “a great gift of empathy and sympathy”, and a great capacity to show closeness to people who are suffering and those who care for them.

Asked why there is so much opposition to Pope Francis among conservative Catholics, Cardinal Pell said, “I think a lot of conservative Catholics feel a little bit confused, a little bit uncertain, they wonder just what is being taught”.

Pope Francis, he said, has “a great gift, like Jesus did, of reaching out to those on the peripheries and ‘sinners’, and categories that are not always seen in the front row at church, and that can and has confused people”.

Photo: Australian Cardinal George Pell gestures as he leaves a session of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican in this 2014 file photo (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

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Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the of the German bishops’ conference, thanked the bishops for their April 11 letter, and said he was glad that the bishops were taking the process of Germany‘s Synodal Path seriously. But he assured them that “the Synodal Path in no way undermines the authority of the Church, including that of Pope Francis, as you write”.

In a letter dated April 14, and published on the website of the German bishops’ conference, the Limburg bishop reminded Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver and other letter signers from North America, Africa, Italy and Australia that the decision to embark on the Synodal Path was to confront the systemic causes of the abuse and its cover-up. He said it was “our attempt to renew a credible proclamation of the Good News“.

“This occasion and context is particularly important to us, but, unfortunately, it is not mentioned at all in your letter. I would be very surprised, however, if you and the signatories of the open letter did not see the importance of the necessity to face the question of abuse as a Church and to draw consequences for the Church and its structures.”

Bishop Bätzing said it was important to speak openly about power and abuse of power in the Church.

“Euphemistic dressing up, as you try to do in your letter, does not really help,” the bishop said. “Unfortunately, such abuse of power – also by episcopal authorities – is not only a thing of the past, but is also happening in the present and leads to massive violations of the rights and personal integrity of the faithful and religious. The participation of the faithful in decision-making at all levels of ecclesiastical action (this is what we mean when we speak of separation of powers) will in no way damage the authority of the hierarchical office, it will give it a newly founded acceptance among the people of God, I am convinced of that.”

The open letter to the Germans was signed by 49 bishops from the US, four from Canada, 19 Africans, one Italian and one Australian, Cardinal George Pell. Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, South African Cardinal Wilfred Napier and US Cardinal Raymond L. Burke were among the signers. The letter noted that “events in one nation inevitably impact ecclesial life elsewhere”.

It raised seven criticisms, including “failing to listen to the Holy Spirit and the Gospel”, relying more on “sociological analysis and contemporary political, including gender, ideologies” than on Scripture and Tradition, and being too focused on “power” and “autonomy”.

“The Synodal Path process, at nearly every step, is the work of experts and committees,” the letter said, calling the process “bureaucracy-heavy, obsessively critical, and inward-looking”.

“In its effect, the Synodal Path displays more submission and obedience to the world and ideologies than to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour,” it said.

The Synodal Path includes forums in which questions are discussed and assemblies at which people from the forums report back and proposals are discussed and voted on. Some texts not only must receive approval of more than two-thirds of all delegates, clerical and lay, but also must have the approval of more than two-thirds of the bishops.

Bishop Bätzing said the entire synodal process was organised around Mass and prayer. He noted that because of the process, it “sometimes requires concentrated work on texts and resolutions, embedded in discussions, publications and media formats”.

He referred the letter signers to the Orientation Text on the Synodal Path website.

“The Synodal Path, as described in detail in the Orientation Text, is not oriented to short-lived sociological theories or secular ideologies, but to the central sources of knowledge of the faith: Scripture and Tradition, the magisterium and theology, as well as the sense of faith of the believers and the signs of the Gospel interpreted in the light of the Gospel. This fundamental orientation, in careful theological reflection, determines the deliberations of the Synodal Path.”

Because of this, he said no one can think that the Catholic Church in Germany is in danger of becoming schismatic.

Concerns about the Synodal Path creating divisions and responding to pressures of the times are some of the main issues cited by Nordic and Polish bishops, who have voiced their concerns publicly.

But repeatedly, Bishop Bätzing has said the German church was doing exactly what Pope Francis asked of the nation’s Catholics in 2019, that is, embarking on a “spiritual journey in asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit”.

The German bishops are keenly aware of the concerns of other conferences about the direction their Synodal Path is taking. Bishop Bätzing has admitted that there were highly divergent opinions on issues such as blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples or the ordination of women as deacons or priests.

The German Catholic news agency KNA reported he pledged that the bishops would submit all the synodal reform decisions that can only be implemented at the universal Church level to the worldwide synodal process launched by Pope Francis in preparation for the 2023 Synod of Bishops on synodality. Bishop Bätzing reiterated in his April 14 letter that some proposed changes must be put before the universal Church.

Photo: Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the of the German bishops’ conference, celebrates Mass at one of the Synodal Path gatherings (CNS Photo)

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Australian Cardinal George Pell is seen on a screen via video link from Rome as he prepares to answer questions from Australia’s Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney Feb. 29. (CNS photo/Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Reuters) See PELL-COMMISSION-TESTIFY Feb. 29, 2016, and PELL-COMMISSION-TESTIFY-RIDSDALE March 1, 2016.

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