No Vic state memorial for Cardinal Pell

Premier Daniel Andrews says there will not be a state funeral or memorial service in Victoria for Cardinal George Pell because it would be distressing for victim-survivors. 

Cardinal Pell, the former archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, died from heart complications in Rome on Tuesday following hip surgery.

The 81-year-old was the Vatican's top finance minister before leaving in 2017 to stand trial in Melbourne for child sexual abuse offences.

The following year, he was convicted of molesting two teenage choirboys in the sacristy of Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral while archbishop in 1996. 

He maintained his innocence and in 2020 his convictions were quashed by the High Court.

Premier Andrews on Thursday confirmed there would not be a state funeral or memorial service for Cardinal Pell in Victoria.

"I couldn't think of anything that would be more distressing for victim-survivors than that," he told reporters.

A service for Cardinal Pell will be held at the Vatican in coming days and a funeral mass will follow at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. His body will be returned to Australia and buried in St Mary's crypt.

Archbishop of Sydney Reverend Anthony Fisher said the cardinal gave an example of "how to accept suffering with dignity and peace".

"(Cardinal Pell's) final years were marked by his wrongful conviction and imprisonment, but he bore this with grace and goodwill and gave us all an example," Rev Fisher said on Wednesday.

"He had a lot of adversity in his life. You think of the constant criticism he received in some quarters, for years and years and years.

"It really is an example to us of not letting ourselves be embittered by the hard things in life."

Pope Francis on Wednesday called Cardinal Pell a "faithful servant who, without vacillating, followed his Lord with perseverance even in the hour of trial".

The pontiff said he was grateful for Cardinal Pell's "coherent and committed" dedication to the Church.

In a telegram of condolence sent to the dean of the College of Cardinals, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Pope Francis also thanked Cardinal Pell for laying the groundwork for financial reform in the Vatican with "determination and wisdom".

Cardinal Pell became the Melbourne archbishop in 1996 and five years later took up the same role in Sydney.

At that time, a man claimed Cardinal Pell sexually abused him in 1962 when the accuser was an altar boy. The cleric denied the allegation and in 2003 became a cardinal in the Vatican.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott said Cardinal Pell's imprisonment had been a "modern form of crucifixion; reputationally at least a kind of living death". 

But Melbourne solicitor Viv Waller, who represented Cardinal Pell's surviving accuser, said he would be remembered as "not adopting a very compassionate response to (abuse revelations) but instead being offensive about it and protecting the church".

Shine Lawyers, who represent the father of one of Cardinal Pell's accusers, said the legal claim against the Church and the cardinal's estate would continue.

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