Divisive and influential: Australia's highest-ranking Catholic Cardinal George Pell dies at 81

George Pell, the senior Catholic Cardinal in Australia, passed away at the age of 81.

In Rome, Cardinal George Pell passed away as a result of complications following a hip replacement.
Cardinal George Pell, the oldest living Catholic in Australia, passed away at the age of 81 in Vatican City, Rome.

Following hip surgery on Tuesday evening, the former Catholic archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney passed away from cardiac issues, according to Melbourne's archbishop, Peter Comensoli.

Before leaving the Vatican in 2017 to stand prosecution in Australia for child abuse offences, he served as the senior finance official there.

Cardinal Pell attended Pope Emeritus Benedict's funeral on Thursday just before he passed away.

In 2018, Cardinal Pell was found guilty of abusing two teenage choirboys in the St. Patrick's church sacristy.

While serving as the archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, he visited St.

He consistently proclaimed his innocence, and the High Court unanimously overturned his convictions in 2020.

The cardinal, according to Archbishop Comensoli, is a highly significant and well-respected figure in the church both domestically and internationally.

The archbishop said on Facebook on Wednesday, "Let our prayers go out to the God of Jesus Christ, whom Cardinal Pell truly believed in and followed, that he may be welcomed into eternal life."

A biography of George Pell:

The eldest child of Margaret, a devout Catholic, and George, a boxing champion, publican, and non-practicing Anglican, Cardinal Pell was born in Ballarat on June 8, 1941.

In 1966, he received his ordination as a priest at St. Peter's Basilica. In 1973, he relocated back to Ballarat to take a position as director of the city's Aquinas campus.

After taking over for Sir Frank Little as Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, he was named Archbishop of Sydney five years later.

When he was an altar boy in 1962, a man at the time said that Cardinal Pell had sexually assaulted him. Cardinal Pell refuted the accusation and was elevated to the rank of cardinal at the Vatican in 2003.

Cardinal Pell spoke in front of a Victorian legislature child abuse inquiry in 2013. He admitted that his church occasionally elevated priests above the law and covered up the "foul crime."

He became the third-most influential person in the Vatican after Pope Francis named him cardinal prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy.

Cardinal Pell is accused of abusing an altar boy, and Shine Lawyers, who are representing the father of the kid, said the case against the church and the cardinal's estate would go forward.

The father is suing for compensation, stating that when he learned of the accusations, he experienced nervous shock.

Anthony Albanese says it was "a shock to many" :

Cardinal Pell's passing will have "came as a shock to many," according to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has called out to Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher to offer the government's sympathies.

He said, "I [Also] convey my sympathies to all those who will be in grief today.

Mr. Albanese disclosed that Cardinal Pell's return to his native country was being supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

He declared that there will be a service "sometime in the future" at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott declared that both the church and Australia had lost a great leader.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Mr. Abbott said of the Cardinal, "The Cardinal was a committed defender of Catholic orthodoxy and a steadfast advocate for the qualities of Western civilisation."

He received both praise and criticism for being an ecclesiastical and cultural conservative from all the usual sources.

He was, in fact, a very pastoral priest who knew the taint of the human soul and was more than able to sympathise with sinners while still advising against wrongdoing.

Cardinal Pell's imprisonment after his conviction, which the High Court later overturned, was described by Mr. Abbott as "a modern form of crucifixion, or at the very least a kind of living death."

Like everyone who knew him, I am deeply saddened by his passing, but I have faith that his legacy will endure and that he will serve as an example for future generations.