Cardinal George Pell denied climate change science and testimonies of clerical sexual abuse victims. Photo: AFP
In life, opinions on Australia's most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, were polarised. The reaction to his death hasn't been any different.
Some in the clergy urged people to pray for the 81-year-old, while others outside the church have begun putting his legacy under the microscope.
Cardinal Pell died on Tuesday in Rome, after complications during hip surgery.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his condolences and said the death had come as a shock to many.
"Well, for many people, particularly of the Catholic faith, this will be a difficult day and I'll express my condolences to all those who are mourning today."
The Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, said worshippers were shocked.
"Please pray for the repose of the soul of Cardinal Pell, for comfort and consolation for his family and for all of those who loved him and are grieving him at this time."
Cardinal Pell became Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, and the Archbishop of Sydney in 2001. He was appointed as a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003.
In 2018 he was found guilty of abusing two choirboys in the 1990s, and spent more than a year behind bars, before his conviction was quashed by the High Court.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a staunch defender of Cardinal Pell, said Australia had lost a great son.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was a staunch defender of George Pell, the cardinal also being a staunch defender of the Australian political establishment. Photo: AFP / Mark Graham
"His incarceration on charges that the High Court ultimately scathingly dismissed was a modern form of crucifixion; reputationally at least a kind of living death," he said.
"His prison journals should become a classic: a fine man wrestling with a cruel fate and trying to make sense of the unfairness of suffering."
Dr Miles Pattenden, a senior research fellow at the Australian Catholic University, said the Cardinal's legacy would be "mixed".
"George Pell was one of the most conservative figures of his generation in the global church," Pattenden said.
"He was a staunch defender of traditional positions on morality and also on questions of liturgy and, of course, that won him many admirers in the Church and just as many opponents."
Pattenden said Pell had "many admirers", but there were also "many people who hold him at least indirectly responsible for many of the problems which have assailed the Australian church over the past 20 or 30 years, and who wish that he'd been called to account in a fuller way for some of his decisions as Archbishop".
Former member for New England Tony Windsor said his thoughts were with trauma survivors.
The Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Andrew Comensoli, said Cardinal Pell was a significant figure "both in Australia and internationally".
"At this immediate moment, let our prayers go out to the God of Jesus Christ, whom Cardinal Pell wholeheartedly believed in and followed, that he may be welcomed into eternal life," he said.
Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive Francis Sullivan. Photo: AFP
Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive Francis Sullivan said Cardinal Pell became a "lightning rod" of discontent and a "polarising figure" in the church for his views particularly against homosexuality.
"He administered it with a very fundamentalist defence approach that increasingly distanced and alienated a lot of Catholics and the broader optics of the church made us look like we were judgemental and out of touch," Sullivan said.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which handed down its final report in 2017, found Cardinal Pell knew of sexual abuse within the clergy but did not take adequate action to address it. Cardinal Pell disputed the findings.
A clergy abuse survivor who started a petition to have Cardinal Pell defrocked in 2020 said the news would spark mixed emotions among survivors.
Paul Levey was subjected to abuse by convicted paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.
"I read messages from a lot of other survivors... little bits of celebrations are going on in the survivor community," he said.
He said the royal commission did not probe as much as it needed to.
"I went from the start to the end, I went to Rome, I don't believe [Pell] was pushed as much into a corner as much as he should've been," Levey said.
"And there were no real apologies ... It just all seemed like a matter-of-fact type thing, let's get it done and out of the way."
Former Prime Minister John Howard said Cardinal Pell was a person of enormous influence for the nation.
"In the senior roles he held in the Church, he displayed consistent courage in expressing Christian views in the public space," he said.
"His deep and compassionate faith sustained him during more than 400 days in prison for alleged crimes which many, me included, believed should never have been the subject of charges."
Melbourne lawyer Judy Courtin who represents victims of institutional child sexual abuse, said she had already received multiple messages from survivors.
"I think it's very mixed for them. One text sent little icons of party heads, celebration. Others, I think it reflects a lot of frustration, because there's never been proper accountability," Courtin said.
A law firm has confirmed it will continue to progress a civil claim on behalf of the father of a former altar boy who accused Cardinal Pell of sexual abuse.
Shine Lawyers said there was still evidence for the claim to rely on, despite not being able to cross examine the Cardinal at any trial.
"The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne is also listed as a defendant in this matter," Shine Lawyers chief legal officer, Lisa Flynn, said in a statement.
- ABC
