No State Funeral for Cardinal Pell


The first State Funerals in Australia honoured the explorers Robert Burke and William Wills in Melbourne in 1863 after their attempt to cross the continent from south to north ended in failure. Today, State Funerals in Australia more often recognise statesmanship (politicians), and the more human level of endeavour than was the case in the past.   This in no way demeans any recipient of a State Funeral, but recognises the modern world and the reality of the fewer truly heroic exemplars in the historic sense of that term.

In some cases, the passing on of the individual fully resonates with the populace – thousands turned out for Burke and Wills.  In other cases, the societal reaction may have been more subdued. This in no way invalidates the granting of a State Funeral: State Funerals are not popularity contests. Nor are outpourings of loss the yardstick for the granting of a State Funeral, although such emotion may be palpable among the many attendees.  Were it so then most, if not all, politicians would never be granted a State Funeral. A State Funeral is meant formally to acknowledges the service, courage, and endeavour of the individual. Last week, Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic, died in Rome. Immediately, both the Victorian and New South Wales Premiers ruled out a State Funeral for the Cardinal.

In Victoria’s case, Daniel Andrews was quick to reference the victims of child sexual abuse to imply the Cardinal’s disqualification from the honour of a State Funeral.  This was a shallow attempt to rehash the now discredited and false criminal accusations made against the Cardinal and over which the High Court had fully dealt.  But also the Premier (and others) want to widen the claims of culpability against Cardinal Pell – having not “got their man” in the courts, Pell’s detractors want to forever hang the crimes of others around his neck by redrawing him as some sort of ignoble cut-out character of popular fiction.  The refusal of a State Funeral being the “reasonable” evidence of his guilt and disqualification.

Through all these turnings, including the Cardinal’s fortitude while being incarcerated for 404 days in solitary confinement before his full exoneration, admirers saw a man who faced his tormenters with grace, humility, and courage. For those who followed his career from the beginning, this was the man they knew and not the contrived depiction drawn by his enemies.

“Be not afraid” – the episcopal motto of Cardinal Pell – stands now as a fitting epitaph for a man of God and becomes a witness to those who would doubt themselves at their own time of trial. Premier Andrews may think he has finished with Cardinal Pell, but the Cardinal’s legacy shines a light on the State of Victoria under this Premier.


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Rafiki
Rafiki
January 19, 2023 1:26 pm

On his blog, CL pointed out that the funeral has been held in Rome.

patricia agnelli
January 19, 2023 1:29 pm

Every one has their own opinion,i am totally at odds with yours, keep your head in the sand.

Johnny Rotten
January 19, 2023 1:49 pm

Sicktoria will only have a State Funeral for one of their own. A ‘Pollie’, A Sports person, A Crook,………….and others that fit the mold.

I can’t wait for the State of Sicktoria State Funeral for Dan the Dustbin Person (It is not a Man). And as someone posted earlier. erect a statue of it (not a Him) so the pigeons can crap all over it.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
January 19, 2023 4:17 pm

Simply if you are not a labor voter you will not receive a state funeral. If you are a pop artist you will recieve one. I noticed Ron Walker did not receive a state funeral.

If you are anti social or suffer from addiction you are honorable. ITs typical of the emdia and creatives. It reminds me of the shots in suburbia of husband going to work and wife at home nuturing baby and its sneered at, these people are painted as stupid. Get Ginsberg up reading his so caleld poetry and you wow this guys genius , get some up saying why whould i work I dont want to live my life like that and they are a hero.

Same with state funerals, those least deserving get the state funeral.

Personal point of view – has any Catholic received a state funeral?

Vicki
Vicki
January 19, 2023 4:18 pm

When pop stars and sportsmen are given state funerals and/or memorial services, it is scandalous that a man of such world status as the late Cardinal Pell is not similarly honoured. It is either anti-Christian, anti-Catholic, opposed to the verdict of the High Court – or all three.

I am not a Catholic, but this man was acknowledged in the order of the top three Cardinals of Rome and achieved much in revealing corruption in Vatican finances.

The fact that a state government of Australia can take such a stand is astonishing.

Rafiki
Rafiki
January 19, 2023 4:44 pm

Bar Beach
OK, and what form would it take? If there is no standard form then invidious choices would have to be made. Political and sectarian considerations would intrude.

Cardinal Pell made public statements on moral and political issues, but these were incidental to the vast amount of work he did within his church. The church is the body that should honour him. An internment will take place in the Sydney cathedral, and I suppose will be a solemn occasion according to the rites of his church. This seems to me to me appropriate. Church officials will control the ceremonies, and non-adherents should stay away unless invited.

Leon L
Leon L
January 19, 2023 5:45 pm

Quadrant has a piece written by Pell – The Church in a world under pressure.

Highly recommended.
Be not afraid. Seek the Truth.

Roger
Roger
January 19, 2023 7:15 pm

While ever premiers have discretionary power to offer state funerals or memorial services for persons who don’t meet the formal criteria, political expediency will be a factor. Take that power out of their hands then.

Cassie of Sydney
January 19, 2023 8:38 pm

“Every one has their own opinion,i am totally at odds with yours, keep your head in the sand.”

Hi Patricia, are you at odds with the seven judges who sit in the HC? I’ll remind you of the HC court judgment…

7-0

Or do you think those seven eminent jurists have their heads stuck in the sand?

Rafe Champion
January 19, 2023 8:41 pm

Well said Cassie, and BBS.

Cassie of Sydney
January 19, 2023 10:06 pm

Excellent piece BBS. Re. “state funerals”, I have my own feelings about them. I just yawn now every time a celebrity dies and their grieving families are offered a “state funeral”. They’ve become pedestrian and banal, bastardised and stripped of any meaning. But that’s what the left do, they destroy everything. State funerals are now just political theatre designed to appease the mob, like throwing bread and circuses.

George Pell had something far better than a “state funeral”. His funeral service at the Vatican was presided over by a Pope and next week, here at St Mary’s Cathedral, there’ll be a service and his body will then be interred in a crypt under the cathedral. Once that happens, his soul can finally be at peace, something he so richly deserves, particularly after the last decade of his life, which must have been tough, when he was very deliberately targeted for character assassination and he was subjected to a conga line of lies and smears, and then to be falsely charged on lies, tried and sentenced to prison, for a crime he did not commit and a crime he could not possibly have committed. George Pell was lynched before our eyes.

The Victorian government, the Victorian police, the obscenities at their ABC and almost all the rest of the media, were determined to “get Pell”, regardless of the truth. In the process, they happily trashed the presumption of innocence and mocked and ridiculed our legal system. I’m not one to turn the other cheek, so one day I hope that those who led and participated in the campaign to “get Pell” are themselves the subject of false accusations. I suspect an ex-senator from NSW, aka K Keneally (who also participated in the Pell lynching). now appreciates the “presumption of innocence”, given that her son faces serious charges.

The Pell affair is our Dreyfus affair. Next week, when Pell’s service is held at St Mary’s, this Jew will stand outside and pay her respects.

C.L.
C.L.
January 20, 2023 1:15 am

Thanks, BBS.

Andrews’ intervention was so idiotic as to be laughable. Strictly for the peanut gallery.
The late Cardinal is not being interred in Melbourne – St Mary’s Cathedral being in Sydney.
I couldn’t think of anything more infra dig than the involvement of either state in these exequies.

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
January 20, 2023 6:18 am

I couldn’t think of anything more infra dig than the involvement of either state in these exequies.

Yes C.L. these days, the involvement of any politician in anything sacred and solemn immediately sullies and demeans such an occasion – just stay away you putrid posturing poltroons.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 20, 2023 6:28 am

7-0

Or do you think those seven eminent jurists have their heads stuck in the sand?
7 eminent jurists is a bridge too far, though.

Most of them are just hacks.

2 Juries found him Guilty unanimously, but hey, they were only Juries, there was no Eminence about them?
Then there was the Court Of Appeal verdict, 2-1 against.
Those 2 Appeal Judges weren’t eminent?

Cassie of Sydney
January 20, 2023 6:44 am

“Most of them are just hacks.”

Ed, you need to stop looking in the mirror.

Cassie of Sydney
January 20, 2023 6:46 am

“Those 2 Appeal Judges weren’t eminent?”

Actually, “Those 2 Appeal Judges”, were not eminent in criminal law.

The third, Justice Weinberg, WAS eminent in criminal law.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 20, 2023 6:55 am

Give it a rest, Cassie, the bloke’s dead.
You’ve done more raging about Pell than any 10 commenters combined.

The result?
Well, I used to ask:
What’s the point of jailing a 78 year old?

Now, I remember Pell’s words re CSA in the RCC:

It’s a sad story, and frankly, of not much interest to me.

Hugh
Hugh
January 20, 2023 10:51 am

Ed, just go to the tape and tell the truth.

For the record, the Cardinal didn’t say: “It was a sad story and, frankly, wasn’t of much interest to me.” He said “It’s a sad story and it wasn’t of much interest to me.”

And as he explained later and as was pretty obvious to myself as I listened at the time doing the washing up, the two “it”s had different referents. The first was to the crimes of Fr Ridsdale. (A sex-abused person becomes himself a serial sex offender. Isn’t that a sad story?)

The second “it” was referring to the issue raised in the question he was specifically answering which he had just been asked by the counsel for the Royal Commission, Gail Furness: namely the degree of knowledge amongst the residents of Inglewood as to Ridsdale’s crimes at the time of his residence as Parish Priest. For God’s sake: Pell wasn’t in Inglewood! He was miles away! How was he expected to know about the “degree of interest” amongst the residents of Inglewood in Fr Ridsdale? There was probably scuttlebutt of all manner circulating about priests, and teachers, and politicians, etc, etc. Some of which, in retrospect, turned out to be well founded. Some of which was not. Why would he be interested in the rumours in Inglewood? Just because he was a priest in Victoria, he had to be fixed on rumours in a parish with which he had nothing to do? Do you yourself go around monitoring the degree of rumours of sex abuse in your neighbourhood and report them to police? Why not? You have such high standards, no?

“Physician, heal thyself.”

Cassie of Sydney
January 20, 2023 12:17 pm

“As the left don’t give up; neither do we.”

Liberty quote. There’s a war going on and I will NEVER ever kowtow or submit to the progressive left.

P
P
January 20, 2023 12:25 pm
Cassie of Sydney
January 20, 2023 12:28 pm

“Protest against George Pell’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights planned for day of late cardinal’s funeral”

These people are evil.

Hugh
Hugh
January 20, 2023 1:08 pm

We can’t stop the protest.

It’s demonic. These wretched people are possessed.

I was walking in a March for Life in Melbourne a few years back. On the footpath there was a protesting young woman walking alongside. I began saying a Hail Mary out loud. She suddenly turned around and viciously hissed at me: “Why do you HAVE to say that?”

Poor thing, we should keep her in our prayers.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 20, 2023 1:29 pm

Ed Casesays:
January 20, 2023 at 6:28 am
7-0

Or do you think those seven eminent jurists have their heads stuck in the sand?
7 eminent jurists is a bridge too far, though.

Most of them are just hacks.

2 Juries found him Guilty unanimously, but hey, they were only Juries, there was no Eminence about them?
Then there was the Court Of Appeal verdict, 2-1 against.
Those 2 Appeal Judges weren’t eminent?

The first jury could not reach a decision.

The judge on the Court of Appeal who knew most about criminal law dissented. The other two showed their ignorance of criminal law in their decision.

The High Court judges are indeed, legally, more “eminent “than those on lower courts.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
January 20, 2023 2:48 pm

State funerals have indeed become cheapened: there is even a puke-inducing photo of Comrade Andrews at the lectern in St Patrick’s at Bert Newton’s. Did they have to conduct an exorcism and reconsecration afterwards?

As for the High Court seven being hacks: Keane (whom informed lawyers believe to be the lead drafter – it reads like him) won the Viner prize for the best marks of the year in the BCL at Oxford; Kiefel did the same at Cambridge (not bad for someone who left a state school at 15); Edelman taught at Oxford; etc etc. Moreover, three of the seven at the time were Labor appointments but, unlike in Yarragrad, judges first and political hacks a distant second, if at all.

Rococo Liberal
Rococo Liberal
January 20, 2023 3:06 pm

Unlike many people, I have read the judgment of the High Court in the Pell case. From the facts it is clear that the Court of Appeals was hopelessly wrong and the judge in the riginal case did not make it clear enough to the jury that they had to take all factors into account, not just the testimony of the alleged victim, especially since 20 years had passed by the time the matter got to court.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 20, 2023 5:27 pm

The Pell affair is our Dreyfus affair.

What are you implying here?
Dreyfus was guilty of supplying the German Reich with France’s Order Of Battle, beyond any doubt.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 20, 2023 5:29 pm

From the facts it is clear that the Court of Appeals was hopelessly wrong and the judge in the riginal case did not make it clear enough to the jury that they had to take all factors into account, not just the testimony of the alleged victim, …

There were 2 Trials, what was the issue the HC had about the Guilty Verdict at Trial #2?

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 20, 2023 5:42 pm

Ed Casesays:
January 20, 2023 at 5:27 pm
The Pell affair is our Dreyfus affair.

What are you implying here?
Dreyfus was guilty of supplying the German Reich with France’s Order Of Battle, beyond any doubt.

Was it Emile Zola or Victor Hugo who informed you of that? Have you already forgotten your debacle the last time you tried this one on? Idiot.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 20, 2023 5:45 pm

Ed Casesays:
January 20, 2023 at 5:29 pm
From the facts it is clear that the Court of Appeals was hopelessly wrong and the judge in the riginal case did not make it clear enough to the jury that they had to take all factors into account, not just the testimony of the alleged victim, …

There were 2 Trials, what was the issue the HC had about the Guilty Verdict at Trial #2?

Nothing serious, only that it was physically impossible for the events to have occurred in the timeline claimed.

That the dopey Victorian DDP tried to persuade the High Court to accept a different timeline to that used during the trial probably didn’t help her case.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 20, 2023 5:46 pm

DPP, not DDP.

HT
HT
January 20, 2023 9:26 pm

Pell’s treatment says so much about modern Australia. None of how Pell was treated speaks to the Australia I used to love.

rickw
rickw
January 21, 2023 12:41 am

404 days in solitary confinement

Isn’t this a form of torture?

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 21, 2023 1:01 pm

rickwsays:
January 21, 2023 at 12:41 am
404 days in solitary confinement

Isn’t this a form of torture?

Only if applied to actual, violent, criminals.

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