Late Australian cardinal’s funeral sparks Sydney protests
SYDNEY: Protesters confronted mourners with chants of ‘shame’ outside the funeral of controversial top Vatican cardinal George Pell in Sydney yesterday.
Pell died in Rome last month aged 81 and was buried in the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral amid angry protests and a heavy police presence.
Dogged by scandal in his later years, Pell was the highest-ranking Catholic to be imprisoned for child sexual abuse, before his convictions were overturned in 2020.
He continues to divide opinion – supporters have dubbed him a “saint for our times”, but campaigners accuse him of protecting paedophile priests while a senior Church official.
As he was laid to rest, riot police lined barricades to keep protesters away from the thousands of mourners queuing to get into the funeral.
The protesters cried ‘shame’ while waving banners declaring ‘Pell Burn in Hell’.
Economist William Coleman, 63, lined up to pay his respects to Pell, who he said was a ‘good man’ that was unfairly persecuted.
“I think it’s disgraceful to attempt to disrupt a funeral,” he told AFP.
Retired lawyer Eric Ziehlke said Pell was a ‘wonderful churchman’.
“I think he was completely innocent of the crime for which he was accused,” he told AFP.
Sexual abuse survivor Dianne Jacobus was among a small group tying ribbons to the cathedral gates in a symbolic show of support for Church victims.
“It’s about the children,” she told AFP.
“I was abused by a priest when I was 16. How can you glorify someone who turned a blind eye?”
A small group of Pell supporters draped rosary beads over the ribbons.